Karuki Aisuru's Story
by Junsei-Ichi
Summary: The "Youngblood" of Iwagakure. Jounin at thirteen and has a Kekkei Genkai... She would obviously be a target, and she is. Her power is why the Akatsuki want her; her power is why the pedo-snake has her parents; her power is why she had to flee. It is others savior, but it is her burden. Won't you join her on her on her story?
1. Chapter 1

_Ok, so after fanfiction was done being a douche and deleted my story, and after nearly three months of constant re-writing this (from scratch) I have finally finished all the chapters I had before. I tried to make them as close as possible to the original chapters I had before but I did make some changes. I hope you still enjoy the plot and hope I still get reviews for this._

_Karuki Aisuru's Story numero dos._

_Enjoy _

~xXx~

"I believe we should recruit at least two more exceptionally powerful ninja into our ranks before the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki returns to Konoha from his training with Jiraiya," said Madara.

Uchiha Madara. One of the last three Uchiha in existence along with Uchiha Sasuke and Uchiha Itachi. Madara was currently in a more isolated part of the Akatsuki base, as to not be overheard, talking to Itachi about his plans.

"I agree completely Madara-sama; I will bring these ideas up in my meeting with Leader-sama," Itachi said after a moment of thought. With that he left the room and made his way towards Pain's office to talk about the possible new additions.

On the way he could hear Hidan performing one of his rituals to his god Jashin in his room. He walked by without second thought as this was a common thing to hear and/or see in their home, if that's what you would call it.

A hand was placed on his shoulder, which tore him out of his thoughts of what to say to Pain.

"Ah, Itachi just the man I was looking for. Care to get a little training in before we go to sleep?" his partner, Kisame, asked.

"I can't tonight. I must speak to leader-sama," Itachi said flatly.

"May I ask what you must speak to him about?" Kisame said with a hint of curiosity laced in his voice.

"I can't tell you right now, but if things go smoothly then you, along with everybody else, will find out soon," Itachi said uninterestedly.

"Hm, that is understandable. Well I will let you be on your way then," Kisame said with a smile and walked away.

Itachi continued towards Pain's office. He arrived there after a few minutes. He knocked on on the red wood door and waited.

"Enter," he heard a dark voice say. He opened the door and strode in.

"Hello Itachi, what brings you here?" said Pain, not bothering to look up from his paper work that was in front of him.

Itachi cleared his throat and began. "I feel it would be wise to recruit some exceptionally skilled shinobi into our ranks for the upcoming battles with the other Jinchuriki," Itachi said calmly.

Pain stopped looking at his paperwork and sat up straight to think this over. "That is a very wise idea Itachi. I will look over my files and chose some ninja that I have heard promising things about," Pain said confidently.

"Thank you Leader-sama," Itachi said with a bow. He left Pain's office and went straight to his room to get some sleep. He passed Deidara's room on the way and heard an explosion from inside the door. It startled him a little bit but he did not show it. Random explosions were another thing that is common to hear.

He got to his room fairly quickly after that and fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. He woke up later when he heard someone banging on his door.

"OI! ITACHI! GET YOUR LAZY ASS UP PEIN WANTS TO FUCKING SEE YOU! DON'T KEEP HIM FUCKING WAITING!" he heard Hidan yell.

_'I swear one of these days I will kill him, immortal or not,'_ Itachi thought to himself. He got up and put on his fish net undershirt, and the regular shirt he wore under his cloak. He then put on said cloak and left his room.

He got to Pain's office with no problems, probably because almost everyone was still asleep. He was about to knock on the door but Zetsu opened the door and motioned for him to enter.

"Ah, Itachi. I have found an extremely qualified shinobi for our ranks," Pain said, handing Itachi a file. He opened it and started to read:

"_**Name**__: __Karuki Aisuru_

_**Gender**__: __Female  
__**Birth Village**__: Iwagakure_

_**Registration ID**__:_

_**Age**__: __13_

_**Academy Grad. Age: **__6_

_**Chuunin Prom. Age:**__ 7_

_**Jounin Prom. Age:**__ 13_

_**Hair**__:__ Red and Black_

_**Eyes**__: __Blue_

_**Chakra Element**__:__ Earth and Light_

_**Family**__: Mother – Unnamed _

_Father – Unnamed_

_Stat Guide__  
__**Ninjutsu**__:__ 5/5  
__**Genjutsu**__:__ 4/5  
__**Taijutsu**__:__ 4/5  
__**Intelligence (Cunning)**__:__ 4.5/5  
__**Force (Power)**__:__ 4/5  
__**Speed**__:__ 5/5  
__**Stamina (Chakra Amount)**__:__ 4.5/5  
__**Seal Knowledge**__:__ 3.5/5"_

'_A jounin at age 13? Impressive. Let's just hope there is no trouble getting her,"_ He though to himself.

"Where will we be going?" asked Itachi.

"Not you. I want Sasori and Deidara to go. The person we are looking for is in Deidara's home village and he should know how to get in and out of it easily," Pain explained. "I want you to take take this scroll them. They are to leave as soon as they can."

"Hai," Itachi bowed then left.

He had no trouble locating Sasori's and Deidara's chakra on the other side of the base. It was obvious that they were training because of how their chakra would be constantly changing.

When he got to the entrance to the training grounds he heard an explosion go off and the ground started to shake. No doubt it was from one of Deidara's creations.

He opened the door, only to see a giant crater in the middle of the room, and Deidara climbing out of said crater with a smile on his face. Sasori look over to where he sensed a new chakra in the premises and saw Itachi waiting there. He walked over to him.

"Is there something you need Itachi?" He asked.

"Indeed there is. Leader-sama wants you both to gather your things for a mission. The details are on this scroll," He explained, handing Sasori the mission scroll, and the file with the information on whom they were to get. "Leave as soon as you can."

"I understand. Deidara! Go and pack your things. We have a mission."

"Ok Danna, un," Deidara said, dusting himself off and walking over to him. He glared when he saw Itachi. "What do you want, Uchiha, un?" He asked.

"I was merely giving Sasori the details of the mission you are to go on," answered Itachi.

"Whatever, yeah."

xXx

"Hurry up, brat. And don't keep me waiting," Sasori said from where he was waiting at the entrance to the base.

After he said that, Deidara waked in whilst putting a sealing scroll into one of the pockets of his cloak. "Sorry Danna, I had to make sure I had everything I need," He apologized.

"Just hurry up and make a damn bird so we can get going," Sasori said, getting more impatient by the minute.

Deidara nodded and got some clay out of the pouch on the side of his leg. He let his hand mouths gather some up and they started to chew it. A couple seconds later a clay ball popped out. He formed it into an eagle and made it come to life.

He did the same thing again to make another bird for Sasori.

"This is art Danna," He said, jumping onto his bird's back.

"This is not art, brat."

And so they started another one of their art arguments. They were about a fourth of the way there when they had to stop their argument and find a place to rest.

"By the way, Danna. Where are we going?" asked Deidara.

"Iwagakure."

~xXx~

_So yeah… still basically the same. I will be putting up one chapter every day so I have something to look forward to and you have the chance to really notice the differences (if you have read it before). And if you haven't read it before… Thank You For Reading It Now! _

_Hope you liked it._


	2. Chapter 2

~xXx~

"Ugh…Why do jounin have to get up so damn early in the morning?! The morning is _evil,_" Karuki said to herself as she looked at her alarm clock, which read 5:15 am. She sighed to herself and rose from the comfortable position she was in on her bed.

Once she was up and sort of awake she started to get dressed. She got out of the cloths she slept in and put on her sleeveless fishnet undershirt, which stopped just above her bellybutton and then put on her sleeveless black tank top, which stopped just above the fishnet. She put on her baggy black shorts, a blue belt to match her eyes, and her ninja sandals next. After she was done with all of that she put on the fishnet sleeves that covered only her elbows and two red and black striped wristbands, one respectfully on each wrist.

She walked into her bathroom to look in the mirror. She put most of her obnoxiously red hair up into a high ponytail, but she let her bangs stay in front. Her bangs were not all red though; they also had black streaks in them. As oppose to the hair that was in the ponytail, which was almost all black.

As for a description of Karuki, she is assertive, outspoken, and driven to lead. She has an excellent ability to understand difficult organizational problems and create solid solutions. Adaptable and laid-back unless a strongly-held value is threatened. She is also intelligent and well-informed. She values knowledge and competence, and usually has little patience with inefficiency. Extremely loyal to her peers, but not usually respectful of laws and rules if they get in the way of her getting things done.

"Karuki, sweetie breakfast is ready," called her mother from down stairs in the kitchen. Yes, even though she was a jounin, the 'Youngblood' of Iwagakure as some call her, she was still only thirteen.

"Coming, mother _dearest_," said Karuki, a hint of sarcasm in her voice. Well actually not a hint, that sentence just screamed sarcasm.

"Don't you get wise with me. You may be the strongest jounin in the village but I will still beat you into next week!" she heard her mother yell from the bottom of the stairs. Karuki really did love her mother and all of her quirks.

She sighed and finished getting ready for the day, the final touch being putting her Iwagakure headband on her right arm. How she does that with one hand we will never know. When she reached the bottom of the stairs she could smell the eggs, bacon, fried rice, and sausage coming from the kitchen... needless to say she started running. Her mother and father were already sitting at the table putting food on their plates. Karuki sat down and went for the eggs and rice since scrambled eggs and fried rice were her favorite foods, then bacon and sausage.

"How did you sleep honey?" asked her father in-between bites off bacon.

"Good. I had a weird dream though," said Karuki before scarfing down her eggs.

"What was it about?" He asked.

"Had to do with a monocle," She answered with a mouth full of food, flecks of eggs getting on the table.

They all finished their meals within a few more minutes with one or two small conversations between the three. Karuki looked over to the clock and got up after realizing the time.

"I must be going. Kisano wanted me to meet her before I take my squad out for our training," Karuki said while walking out the door.

"Have fun," said her mother. With that she left their home.

xXx

Karuki started to walk towards hers and Kisano's favorite meeting place; a small clearing in the woods they found 7 years ago while chasing each other through the woods in a game of tag. It was a fairly big clearing with a small lake in the middle.

Karuki entered the woods and a small smile came upon her lips as she saw Kisano walking towards the clearing.

Unlike Karuki, she was still a chuunin. She was wearing her usual ninja attire, which was a red long-sleeve shirt with only the left sleeve and a sleeveless fishnet over it. She also had a sleeveless tan vest over it all, and was wearing a skirt with spandex shorts under. She was wearing the standard ninja sandals too. She had kind of short dark brown hair up in a small side ponytail, but still had bangs covering her right eye. The tips of her bangs, ponytail, and the part in her hair were all dyed a sapphire blue to make it pop. Along with her greed eyes, she was colorful. Her Iwa headband was in its proper place on her forehead.

And a description of Kisano, she is a people-oriented and fun-loving kind of person. She makes things more fun for others by her enjoyment. She lives in the moment, and loves new experiences. She dislikes theory and impersonal analysis and is interested in serving others. She is also very likely to be the center of attention in social situations.

"KISANO!" Karuki screamed as loud as she could, and then started running towards Kisano.

Kisano turned around as she heard her name called. She saw Karuki and her face immediately lit up. "KARUKI!" she screamed back.

The two ran towards each other like one of those cliché slow-motion scenes where they hug in the middle… Which they did. They stood there for a minute just hugging. Karuki pulled away so the two could go to their clearing and talk. They arrived after about five minutes of walking and talking. Once they reached the clearing they sat in the shack they built three years ago next to the lake. It was about the size of a large kitchen. It had two beds, a couch, and a refrigerator stocked with their favorite drinks/ foods. It also had pictures of them scattered across the walls from when they were 5 all the way up until the week before.

"So," Karuki started. "What did you wanna talk about?"

Kisano started blushing. "Well... um... You know that boy Dojisu Kibaso?"

"Yeah, he was in my genin squad, why?" she asked curiously

"Well... He kinda... sorta... Asked me out," she said, blushing like Hinata.

"What?! That's great! He's soooo sweet!" Karuki exclaimed, a giant smile on her face. "How did it happen?"

Kisano went on to explain how he asked her out, which took about fifteen minutes and about a thousand aww's from Karuki. It was a nice girl moment.

"Well I have to tell my parents about this, then get my genin into some training. I'm so happy for you, Kisano," Karuki said happily.

"Okay if you must," Kisano said with a laugh. "I'll see you tomorrow." With that they hugged and Karuki left.

Two hours and one ANBU member later, Karuki could be seen jumping from roof to roof as fast as she could to get to her house. When she landed in the front yard she saw about 8 jounin frantically packing everything in the house into boxes and then putting them in sealing scrolls to make everything easier to carry. Her parents came around the corner with worried expressions on their faces.

"Mom... dad, what's happening? Why are these jounin taking our things?" Karuki said, extremely worried but also getting ready to fight for her possessions. No one touches her shit.

"Sweetie," her mother said calmly, "They aren't taking anything, they're helping us pack."

"For what?" Karuki asked quickly.

"No time to explain," her father said sternly. He never talked to her like that, which made her think things were more serious than she thought."You see those boxes over there?" he said pointing to a fairly large pile of boxes. "That is everything you own. Put them in an empty scroll and put it, and the other scrolls, in the cart out back and get ready to leave."

"Why? Where are we going?" Karuki asked frantically.

"We're going to Konohagakure," her father said. "I'll answer the other question on the way."

~xXx~


	3. Chapter 3

~xXx~

Karuki got into the cart with the scrolls as her father instructed, then walked back inside. She ignored the jounin packing and walked up the stairs to her room. It looked exactly like the picture her parents took the day they moved in; empty. It was completely naked. Everything from the lights to the wall paper and furniture had been removed from the room and packed away.

She walked into her bathroom and saw that it still had all of her toiletries there. She mentally thanked the jounin for not invading her private space; it would have been awkward if they had. She touched up some make up that wore off during the training with her genin team, then brushed her teeth, combed her hair, and finally put everything into a bag and walked back downstairs where she saw her father putting away the last few things.

"Ready?" asked her father when he saw Karuki walk down the stairs. She simply nodded and started walking towards the front door.

"Karuki, where do you think you're going?" said her father with a slight hint of anger in his voice.

"I have to tell Kisano I'm leaving," said Karuki simply.

"You can't," her father told her flatly.

"What? Why!?" She turned around to glare at him. "She's been my best friend since I was four. I can't not tell her I'll probably never see her ever again!" She finished, eyes now burning with hatred towards her father.

"No," her father said sternly. "If you told her we were leaving it would put her life in danger," said her father, knowing that would make her stop.

That hit Karuki hard and, of course, it made her stop. She hadn't known how serious the situation was until then. She knew it was serious enough to leave but she didn't know that it was life threatening.

"Ok," said Karuki, all sadness leaving her voice. She would not put her best friend's, or anybody's, life in danger just to tell her she's leaving. She's not that selfish. She would do anything to assure Kisano's safety, even if it meant never seeing her again. She would protect those precious to her even if it killed her. That's something she proved everyday in her missions.

She lowered her head and walked over to the cart to wait.

"Aisuru-san, everything is packed, loaded, and prepared for your departure. We have also gotten you the two fastest stallions in the village," said one of the jounin.

"Thank you, Risoma," her father said, looking over to him.

"Anything for an old friend," said Risoma, putting a consoling hand on his shoulder.

They left within the next half-hour for fire country.

xXx

Karuki and her parents had been traveling for the rest of the day in silence before they stopped in a reasonably clearing for the night.

Karuki had just started to put her sleeping bag down on a flat part of the ground when she saw a flash of light to the right of her by the bushes. She whipped her head around to see what it was, but nothing was there. She tried to sense if there was any other chakra around the area but she only felt hers and her parents.

"Is there something wrong, honey?" her mother asked.

"…No. I thought I saw a bunny," She explained, rubbing the back of her head nervously with her free hand. She was probably just paranoid because she had to leave her home for unknown reasons and now she thought someone was after her. But of course that could never happen; she would kick their asses if someone tried anything.

"Oh… ok. Just be careful. Your father is going to go catch something to eat and I'm going to get more fire wood. If anything happens while we're gone, just flare your chakra and we'll come get you.

"I'll be fine, mom. They don't call me the Youngblood for nothing, you know," Karuki said with a smug look on her face.

Her mother just sweat-dropped. "We'll be back as soon as we can."

But there was indeed someone watching her. She almost saw him when the moon light was reflected off his glasses as he got into position.

"I'll just have to be more careful next time," the boy muttered to himself, smirking as he watched the Karuki's every move.

It was about five minutes later when Karuki's parents returned; her mother with more firewood and her father… with a fucking _dear_ on his shoulder. He dropped in on the ground in front of the fire and started to… prepare it. That is something Karuki hopes she'll never have to see again.

But alas, the universe is a bitch, so she probable will.

They ate in a comfortable silence until the dear was practically all gone. They all went to their respective sleeping bags and proceeded to go to sleep. Karuki did one last perimeter check, but she still did not find any foreign chakras. After that did she fall asleep comfortably.

xXx

(In the morning)

Karuki and her family had been traveling in silence for about five hours, before Karuki decided to break it. "Why did we have to leave, father?" she asked.

"You've heard of the rouge ninja group, the Akatsuki, correct?" He started.

"Of course. That boy from the next street over from ours, Deidara, joined them a few years back right?" She remembered him. He was a sweet boy, but he was always blowing something up or blabbing about art. She really didn't mind blowing shit up with him though.

"Yes, well they have somehow heard about our clans Kekkei Genkai, the Seishou Tejina, and how you were very good at controlling it and, well; we got word that they were looking for you. The Tsuchikage thought it would be wise to take you to Konohagakure. You will be safer there, since they have dealt with some of their members before," her father said straightly.

"Looking for me? Then why did we run. I am strongest jounin in Iwagakure. They don't call me the Youngblood for nothing. I could take them with one hand tied behind my back!" Karuki said confidently.

"No you couldn't. You are strong, yes, but they have the strongest shinobi from across the _nations_. You wouldn't be able to beat them. They were all like you once, always beating everyone in their village without a challenge, but then look what happened! They looked for more power and betrayed their villages in the end!" her father said quickly.

This stunned Karuki. She thought she was the strongest of the strong, that it was impossible to beat her, but to hear from her father that she wasn't the best, it made her angry, sad, resentful, but most of all it made her want to meet these Akatsuki people and best them all just to prove her father wrong.

Karuki was about to retort but was cut short when their cart was hit by an explosive tag on a kunai and flipped over and started to roll. When the cart finally landed on its side, she got up to see her parents already in a battle stance, facing a lone shinobi who was pale, had oily black hair, yellow snake-like eyes, and purple eye shadow. *cough... he's gay... cough*

She too got ready to fight with her parents.

"Hello," hissed the man. When he opened his mouth she saw that he had an abnormally long tongue, which profoundly creeped out Karuki.

"I think you have a Kekkei Genkai that I am rather interested in. The Seishou Tejina, I believe it was called."

~xXx~


	4. Chapter 4

~xXx~

_Previously:_

"_By the way, Danna. Where are we going?" asked Deidara._

_"Iwagakure."_

xXx

Sasori and Deidara had been traveling since dawn that morning and they weren't even at the countries border yet. It was easy to tell that it was an 'unreasonably too long of a mission' kind of mission, but it was best that they had gone. Deidara _did_ know a lot of secret ways into his former village and Sasori _did_ know how to control Deidara incase he went on a bombing spree. Not that that would be a bad thing. (Sorry, my inner pyro is coming out)

Right now they were walking through a civilian village to get to the woods on the other side. Not many people paid attention to them because being all civilians they rarely have any ninja pass through, let alone S-ranked missin-nin. But some of the people did give them funny looks, which they ignored.

They continued walking and got through without any problems.

(Later)

"Look Danna, I lived in Iwa for most of my life, I think I would know how to get there, yeah," Deidara said as they stood facing a crossroad in the forest path they were taking.

"I'm telling you brat, the left path is the one that the map says to take, so let's take it" argued Sasori from inside Hiruko.

"Well the maps wrong, un," said Deidara angrily.

"Why would the map be wrong, brat?" Sasori questioned.

"Because the map maker was stupid and didn't know what he was doing, yeah!" Deidara yelled back at Sasori.

"Whatever, brat, we'll take your way then, even though I'm absolutely positive we will get lost," said Sasori flatly.

"Thank you Danna, un. You just wait; we'll be there in no time," Deidara said happily.

They started down the path in silence. It was about noon so it was still rather bright, which made it a lot easier to see. They walked for about another 2 hours without sight or any signs of any kind of village what so ever.

"Still think you were right, brat?" Sasori said sarcastically.

"Shut up Danna, hmm! I know that this is the right way-" he was cut off by a series of kunai that came flying at them from the tree line. Deidara dodged them easily by jumping back and Sasori just deflected them with the tail that was on Hiruko. One of the kunai had a paper bomb attached to it, which made an explosion when it hit the ground. It was too far away from the two to do any damage to them; but it effectively pissed off Deidara.

"You call that an explosion?! That shouldn't even be considered art, yeah!" he screamed in a fit of anger.

"None of these explosions should be considered art, brat. Art is eternal," chimed Sasori.

"Not now Danna, I must show these fools proper art, un!" Deidara said, reaching for his clay.

As he did, four ANBU Black Ops came out from the trees where the kunai were thrown from. "Stand down, you are out-numbered," said one of the ANBU stepping forward, presumably the leader.

"Out numbered, yes. But out matched? No. We are clearly the stronger ones here," replied Sasori. A second later he impaled the ANBU on the far left straight through the chest. He then swiped to the side to hit the one next to the now dead ANBU, but only nicked his arm. Sasori smirked inside Hiruko.

"So, brat, I'll take this one," he motioned to the injured ninja. "And you can have the other two, sound fair?" Sasori questioned.

"Yeah, that's sounds good. Now which one of you threw the explosive kunai, hmm?" Deidara asked the two ninja in front of him, anger clear in his voice.

"That would be me," said the only girl on the team, who was on the far right. "I am a master of explosives in my village," the girl said with a smirk, though you couldn't see it because of the mask she was wearing. Deidara clenched his teeth out of anger and glared at the girl with the white hot intensity of a thousand suns. (He is very passionate about his art, ne?)

"You like that spot you're standing in? 'Cause that's where you're gonna die," he said as he reached into the pouch at his side and gathered up some clay. He pulled it out and started to mold it. Once he was done he opened his hand and saw it had six clay spiders ready and waiting on his palm. He threw them at the girl who dodged five of them but the sixth hit her left hand, blowing it off in the process. She cried out in pain but quickly regained her composure, she's not ANBU for nothing.

"That was a bad move, yeah. It would have been a lot easier if you had just died," Deidara smirked. Just then the girl felt three small things land on the back of her head, but it was too late to do anything about it. Without any hesitation Deidara made the hand sign to make them explode.

"KATSU!"

When the smoke cleared there was nothing more of the girl except a few mingled body parts scattered around.

"One down, yeah," Deidara said happily.

"Two actually. I've been done for a while now. But I leave the last one to you, brat," Sasori said, gesturing to the last person who he had been holding back.

"Thanks Danna. Now your turn," Deidara said, turning to the poor ninja who was stupid enough to stick around. He quickly mad another clay eagle and hopped onto its back and flew over to Sasori.

"Danna, you won't wanna be on the ground for this one, yeah," He said. Sasori got on without question; knowing it was only going to be some stupid wide-range explosion. The eagle flew a reasonable distance away, while dodging many kunai and jutsu from the final ANBU. Once they were a safe distance away, two centipedes popped out of the ground and wrapped themselves around the ninja, who immediately started to struggle. After that happened, other smaller grasshoppers and birds crawled their way out of the ground and/ or hopped off of the trees to surround the ANBU, who was probably peeing his pants by now.

Deidara was smiling by now as he made the familiar hand sign to detonate the clay creations.

"KATSU!" His smile turned into a wild grin and his eyes lit up as every one of the animals on the ground exploded in a bright flash of light.

Once all the smoke cleared away, all anybody could see was a giant crater where they had fought the ANBU. Every tree in the immediate area was nothing more that wood chips now, and even worse was that there was not a single piece of human remaining, save Deidara and Sasori, who were safe on the bird.

"I think he's dead, yeah," said Deidara, happily.

"Yes, I think so. Anyway, brat, I was right you took the wrong path, now fly this monstrosity the other way. The _right_ way to Iwa," Sasori said sternly.

"Alright Danna, yeah," Deidara said, and then proceeded to actually go Iwagakure.

~xXx~


	5. Chapter 5

~xXx~

_Previously:_

_"I think you have a Kekkei Genkai that I am rather interested in. The Seishou Tejina, I believe it was called."_

xXx

Karuki was prepared to fight Orochimaru to the death. She whipped out a kunai and jumped next to her parents.

"You will not be taking us for your experiments, you sick bastard," growled Karuki's father, facing the man with purple eye shadow *cough* gay *cough*

"You make me laugh. Do you really think you can defeat me? I am Orochimaru, one of the legendary sannin. There is no hope for you," he said.

"I do not care who you are. You will die right here, right now, if you dare attack my family," Karuki's father growled.

"So sad, a father trying to protect his precious family, what futile efforts," said Orochimaru with a small laugh. "Ninja art: Hidden Shadow Snakes!" He said. Multiple snakes shot out from his sleeves and then swords shot out of the snake's mouth. They struck Karuki's parents in their sides and through their stomachs. Of course, their Seishou Tejina healed the wounds immediately but the swords were still stuck in them, rendering them useless.

"YOU SICK BASTARD I WILL DESTROY YOU, THEN RAPE YOUR SOUL!" Karuki screamed in a fit of anger.

Orochimaru just laughed. "Give it your best shot."

And so she did. She charged with her kunai in hand, pushing her chakra through the blade, which started to glow gold. This was the main indicator of Seishou Tejina; she emitted golden chakra, whether it was for healing purposes or just regular use, her chakra was always gold. This also brought on her second nickname, "Golden Girl", but let's face it, Youngblood sound way more badass.

"Earth Style: Jishin no jutsu!" Karuki yelled punching the ground, small wisps of golden chakra coming off of her fist. The earth in front of her shattered violently, but Orochimaru dodged it with ease.

"Alright try and dodge this Earth Style: Encasing Earth!" yelled Karuki. Eight pillars of earth shot up in a circle around Orochimaru, thirty feet tall with spikes facing inward. They shot forward at an alarming rate. They hit Orochimaru all at the same time forming a perfect circle, but when they retracted, he wasn't there, only the body of a mangled snake.

"Damn," Karuki growled "Where'd that teme go?" she asked. Just then a sword was stabbed straight through her back. "Really that isn't going to work," she said while simultaneously turning around and ripping the sword out of her stomach, without showing any sign of pain. She healed the wound quickly and delivered a swift kick to Orochimaru's face, feeling his nose break beneath her foot. He flew through the air and through a few dozen trees, then hit a spiked rock wall Karuki had summoned earlier. He was impaled through the chest, and this time it was the real Orochimaru. He coughed violently, blood pouring from his mouth.

But as fate would have it, a certain teme with glasses snuck up behind Karuki and hit her with a chakra induced chop to the neck. Everything started to go black as she started to fall to the ground. The last image she saw was a boy wearing a purple over shirt, and purple pants, *cough* also gay *cough* with her parents over his shoulders taking Orochimaru off from the spikes.

xX several hours later Xx

Karuki awoke from a rythematic shudder and jar, as one would feel if you were over someone's shoulder. She kneed whoever it was in the chest, thinking they were the same queer looking child who took her parents and saved Orochimaru. She hit the ground with a thud but got up immediately and got into a fighting position, kunai already in hand. But what she saw wasn't the same boy from before but three other ninja.

One was a girl with long blond hair that went down to her mid-back. She wore a short, purple, sleeveless blouse, an open-front purple apron-skirt over a shorter, black skirt, with short, fishnet shorts underneath.

The second was a boy who was unusually fat for a ninja and had swirls on his cheeks. He wore a red suit with plated armor on his torso, arms, and upper legs. On the front of his chest armor was the kanji for "food". He had spiky brown hair that reached down to his waist.

And the third was a boy with a bored but also annoyed look on his face. He had black hair that was pulled back and tied on top of his head, which kind of made him look like a pineapple. He wore a Konoha chuunin/jounin flak jacket, along with a black long sleeved shirt paired with matching pants and sandals, and green lined fish net on his wrists and ankles.

They were all wearing Konoha headbands, so Karuki lowered her guard, but only a little bit.

"Who are you? How did you find me? Oh and sorry for kneeing you in the chest," said Karuki apologetically.

"Well to answer your questions I am Shikamaru Nara, the girl is Ino Yamanaka, and last but not least this is Choji Akimichi. We found you when Ino here was using her body possession jutsu on a hawk looking for Orochimaru and his laky Kabuto. We heard they were in the area so our Hokage told us to look around for any clues about where they might be hiding," said Shikamaru.

"Thank you Shikamaru and I guess I should introduce myself now. I am Karuki Aisuru the Youngblood of Iwagakure, strongest of all the Iwagakure jounin. Once again sorry for kneeing you I thought you were that Kabuto-teme," said Karuki. "Oh I know, let me heal you, I can tell I bruised your ribs a bit," said Karuki walking towards Shikamaru, her hands starting to glow with a golden light.

Shikamaru, being the perceptive know-it-all he is, noticed. He nudged Ino and Choji and the three of them jumped back into the trees defensively.

"Where you going? I won't bite," Karuki said with a smile.

"Why in the good name of the First Hokage are you glowing?" Shikamaru asked.

"Oh yeah. Guess I should have told you before I started; this is my kekkei genkai, the Seishou Tejina. It allows me to heal any injury that may be inflicted on my own person or another, the glow just shows I activated it." To emphasis how it works she took out a kunai and stabbed herself in the stomach. She closed her eyes for a second and she started to glow. In less than five seconds the stab wounds were completely gone and healed.

"That's kind of amazing," said Ino.

"Yeah it pretty hard to kill me," Karuki joked.

"Well, Tsunade-sama will want to see this, so you're coming with us to Konohagakure," Shikamaru said dully and obviously unimpressed by her talent. This made her a little upset because she thought he was sort of cute.

"Konohagakure you say? That's delightful. That's where my parents and I were going anyway," said Karuki.

"Parents? Where are they?" asked Choji.

Karuki paused, but went on after, "I'll explain later, but for now let's go," she suggested. And with that the four left for Konohagakure.

~xXx~


	6. Chapter 6

~xXx~

Karuki, Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji were all jumping from tree to tree in silence, until Choji decided to break it.

"So, what's the story about your parents?" asked Choji curiously.

Karuki looked over to Choji, knowing that the question was directed to her. She turned around and started to jump backwards (like a boss) so she could see everybody, a calm but still kind of blank look on her face.

"Well, I should probably start at the beginning. I am from _Iwagakure. _There, I was the strongest of them all. Even though I am young, I'm a jounin. Probably the reason they call me the 'Youngblood' of Iwa," she said.

"OH! I've heard of you. _You were_ so good, they had to put _you_ against _twenty_ of the _other jounin_ for your _jounin_ exams. _You beat them_ all in _less than_ a _minute_ and seven of _them were_ in the hospital for a month," said Ino interrupting her.

"Haha, yeah. Good times, good times. Anyway a couple days ago, Iwagakure got wind that this organization, the Akatsuki, was looking for me. My Kekkei Genkai, the Seishou Tejina, is probably how they herd of me in the first place – and they want me to join them or something like that. The Tsuchikage thought it would be a good idea for my family and me to go to Konohagakure since you have dealt with the Akatsuki before. So we left. We were on our second day of traveling when Orochimaru attacked our cart and flipped it over.

"He went for my parents first and immobilized them so they wouldn't be able to do anything. Naturally this pissed me off and attacked. He wouldn't get away with attacking my family. He dodged my earthquake jutsu and my earth pillar jutsu – how I don't know – but I eventually managed to kick him in the face. I felt his face break underneath my foot and he flew backwards through a couple of trees into a spiked stone wall I summoned-" said Karuki.

"Wait a second," interrupted Ino. "You defeated Orochimaru with three jutsu?!" she asked frantically, staring at Karuki in awe.

"Well... Not exactly, I feel I would have, but this kid came up behind me and hit the chakra point on my neck and I started to black out. The last thing I saw was the same kid with my parents over his shoulder, pulling Orochimaru off the wall," said Karuki remembering it all clearly. "The next thing I know, I'm being carried to Konoha on Shikamaru's shoulder," she finished. All of them were staring at her like she had grown a second head.

Which, as a matter of fact, she had not done.

"You can actually fight Orochimaru one on one, and almost win? Tsunade-sama will want to hear this. Oh, and we are about ten minutes from the village," said Shikamaru obviously thinking a lot.

"Wonderful, I can't wait to meet one of the more… let's just say, sane… members of the legendary sannin," said Karuki excitedly.

"What do you mean one of the more sane members?" Choji asked.

"Well, to put it bluntly, Jiraiya, though I've never actually met him, but I know of him, is a pervert who peeps on women in bath houses, and Orochimaru is a pedophile who goes after little boys for their bodies._Compared to them_,_Tsunade just has a temper and a big bust_," _Karuki said_,still keeping that calm look on her face.

"Wow," Ino said.

"Yeah. I know my people," said Karuki, smirking to herself a little.

"So, Karuki enough of this depressing stuff, do you like shopping?" asked Ino.

"Who doesn't?" said Karuki, looking over to Ino.

"Me," Shikamaru said dully.

"Well no one asked you," Ino said in a teasing way. "Back to you Karuki, we have to go shopping sometime with my friend Sakura. We know all the good stores and deals, it'll be a blast!" said Ino extremely happy.

"Sounds fun, we should do it soon. But as you may have noticed, I only wear red, black, and blue," said Karuki, motioning to what she was wearing now.

"Okay, but you have to at least have to try on some other colors," said Ino with another smile.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to just try them on," Karuki answered.

"Great!" Ino exclaimed.

"There's the gate," said Shikamaru breaking up the girl talk.

The jumped out of the trees and landed a little bit away from the gates. Shikamaru nodded to Kotetsu and Izumo, who were standing at the gates like always, who were doing nothing in particular, as always.

Karuki was looking every-which-way she could and took everything in. It was different than Iwa, she noted. Iwagakure sat among a mountain range consisting of small narrow waterfalls, with the buildings being composed of rock and stone; shaped from large, elevated formations of rock into tower-like structures. Many of its buildings sat on cliffs connected by a network of bridges. The Tsuchikage's palace was the tallest structure with a cone shaped roof.

But Konoha was so much different. It had a bunch of trees surrounding it and all the buildings were made of wood. It had a basic perimeter wall and the first thing you saw when you walk in was the Hokage palace. There were civilians and ninja living next to each other in harmony and everybody looked so happy.

There was also a mountain behind the Hokage palace that has the face of all the Hokage on it; The First Hokage, Hashirama Senju – the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju – the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi – the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze – and finally the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade.

"Damn," Karuki muttered.

~xXx~


	7. Chapter 7

_I would like to say happy birthday to our favorite miser, Kakuzu. He is awesome._

…

_Carry on._

~xXx~

Shikamaru, Ino, Choji, and Karuki started to walk through Konoha after passing the gates. Ino waved to some of the more noticeable faces, meaning Rock Lee and Kiba. They arrived at the Hokage building after a brisk walk through the main road. As they walked in, Shizune walked out with TonTon following her.

"Hey, Shizune!" Ino greeted happily.

"Hello Ino. I'd love to chat but I have to go and do some shopping for more medical herbs right now," said Shizune hurriedly.

"Mmmkay some other time then. Is Tsunade in her office?" asked Ino.

"Yes, she is," said Shizune.

"Alright, thanks," said Ino whilst walking into the building with everyone else following her.

They arrived in her office quickly after going up many, _many_, stairs.

"Gah! What the hell is wrong with you people?" Karuki wheezed from where she was lying at the top of the stairs.

"It doesn't seem like that many stairs when you get used to it," Choji explained.

"You're all insane," muttered Karuki, catching up with them.

Choji just shrugged as Shikamaru knocked on the door to Tsunade's office.

"Enter," A voice said from beyond the door.

"Hello, Lady Tsunade," said Shikamaru, opening the door. "I have someone you would want to meet," he stated confidently.

"Do you, now?" asked Tsunade curiously.

"I do, it's her," said Shikamaru pointing towards where Karuki was standing. "She, is Karuki Aisuru, the Youngblood of Iwagakure. She was a genin at the age of six, chuunin at seven, and is now currently a jounin at the age of thirteen. She defeated Orochimaru with three jutsu and a kick to the face, and she has a kekkei genkai called the Seishou Tejina, which means she can heal any injury whether it is on herself or on others. Along with healing injuries, she can also bring the dead back to life," said Shikamaru.

There was a long silence but Tsunade eventually broke it. "Does this mean Orochimaru is dead?" she asked.

"Well he would be but, Kabuto knocked me out before I could finish and saved him, the asshole," said Karuki beating Shikamaru to it, though muttering the last part.

"Damn, well at least he's injured. But why are you here, Karuki?" questioned Tsunade.

"Didn't you get the Tsuchikage's message?" asked Karuki. "It was sent the day we left."

"No, I didn't," said Tsunade._ 'It must have been intercepted by someone,' _she thought.

"Well then I'll explain," Karuki started. "The S-ranked criminal organization, the Akatsuki, wanted to find me for my Seishou Tejina and probably my power in combat and ninjutsu and what not. So anyway the Tsuchikage thought I should come here since you've dealt with some of their members before. When we, meaning my parents and me, were on our way here, Orochimaru attacked us. He hit my parents with some multi-snake jutsu and rendered them useless, so I attacked instead. He dodged two of my jutsu and teleported behind me and stabbed me in the back. I ripped the sword out, healing the wound simultaneously, and used a chakra enhanced kick to knock him through some trees and into a spike wall I had summoned beforehand. It worked and I was about to go finish the job but that was when Kabuto interrupted and knocked me out and saved Orochimaru," Karuki explained like she had already said it a million times before.

"I see," Tsunade said, then she smiled. "Well we are always happy to help anyone who needs it, so you are welcome to stay here. I will have Shikamaru show you around the village," said Tsunade cheerfully. All Karuki could think about was that she got to be shown around by the guy she thought was cute. Needless to say, she was ecstatic.

"Okay. Thank you for letting me stay in your village, Tsunade-sama" said Karuki with a bow.

She turned to Shikamaru, "Let's go!"

"What a drag," said Shikamaru dully.

"Oh cry me a river, build a bridge, and get over it, I want to go sight-seeing," said Karuki, grabbing Shikamaru's arm.

"Wait one moment, please," Tsunade interrupted.

Karuki turned back to her, "Yes?" she asked.

Tsunade motioned for her to walk over to her desk. "Well since you will probably be staying in the village for a while, I want you to wear one of our headbands so no one thinks you're the enemy," she explained. "And also, here's a key for the apartment you'll be staying at."

"What will I do about my Iwa headband?" Karuki asked.

"You can still wear it if you want to, just make sure you have the Konoha one on too. I don't want one of the more dangerous jounin and ANBU attacking you for no reason," Tsunade said.

Karuki nodded. "Ok."

She put the key in her pocket and then tied the Konoha headband around her left arm, seeing as her right arm had her Iwa headband on it. (Really, I don't know how she does it.)

Karuki and Shikamaru left after that.

xXx

Karuki and Shikamaru walked around and saw the village. The first thing they did, though, was Shikamaru showed Karuki where her house was. After that, they stopped at Ichiraku ramen to get something to eat, and continued on. They saw the Hokage Monument – and the place on top of the monument –, the Inuzaka compound, the Hyuga compound, and the training grounds. They ended outside Shikamaru's house; the last thing they saw was the Nara clan woods.

"I had fun today," Karuki said, blushing a little. "Maybe we could do it again sometime?"

"Sure, whatever," said Shikamaru with a little more interest than he normally shows.

"Yay! Goodnight," said Karuki who then unexpectedly hugged him.

"Night," said Shikamaru returning the hug with one arm, the faintest of blushes running over his cheeks and nose.

With that Karuki left completely over joyed.

She walked back to the apartment district following the way she did when Shikamaru showed her. When she arrived at her building she quickly found her door, pulled out the key Tsunade gave her, and unlocked the door silently.

It was just an ordinary apartment, she noted. When she first walked in she noticed it had a living room to the left, with a couch and a coffee table set in front of it; and an open kitchen and dining room attacked to the living room. To the right it was just a place where you could read, if the bookcase by the wall was anything to go by. Next to the reading area was a door that lead into a bathroom, with another door in the bathroom that lead into the bedroom. Directly in front of her was a short hallway that had two doors at the end, one that led back into the dining room and one that led to the bedroom also. Karuki walked straight into the bedroom and found that there was a desk there. She put her stuff (kunai pouch) down on said desk and went to the bed. She fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. The last thing she thought about was how much of a good time she had with Shikamaru earlier.

~xXx~

_So yeah… Say happy birthday to Kakuzu too. _

_And I want to say thank you to those who review. I love to positive feedback but don't be afraid to say it sucks and that it's the worst thing you've ever read, if that is your opinion. I take flames in stride and it will also help with later chapters to make them seem less suckish._

_Special thanks to __**jennku **__who has reviewed for every chapter so far. I love reading what you have to say. And yes, at first Karuki does seem like she's perfect but I assure you she's not. Chapter 9 will prove that of you're willing to wait. And as soon as I feel like starting a chapter where it explains Karuki's Kekkei Genkai, it will show the faults of it too, even if it doesn't seem like it has any._

_So… thanks to everybody _


	8. Chapter 8

_This takes place the same time as the last chapter. Just saying._

~xXx~

Sasori and Deidara made it Iwagakure by noon the next day on the clay bird.

"I see it, Danna, yeah," Deidara informed Sasori, pointing directly in front of him. As it was, Iwagakure was a little over five miles away. Taking into consideration that they were on a bird god knows how high up in the air, that was actually pretty close.

"I suppose it is brat," said Sasori, looking over the village. By this time he had gotten out of Hiruko and stored in away in one of his scrolls.

They landed a good ten feet from the main gates, which caught the attention of the guard that was on duty at that time.

"Halt. Black cloaks with red clouds on them, you are with the Akatsuki; I cannot let you two pass," said the Iwagakure guard, stepping forward.

"_We weren't asking for your permission_," Sasori stated. He used his puppet master jutsu to hold him back in case he attacked and started to question him.

"Where does Karuki Aisuru live?" Sasori asked him, completely bored out of his mind.

"You don't need to ask him Danna, I know where she lives, yeah." said Deidara happily, probably because he got to see Karuki again. He missed playing with her as a child. But then again, that was a long time ago. Things have changed. He had changed.

"Well why didn't you mention that sooner?" Sasori asked him.

He made the guard open the gates to the village and then promptly _threw him against a big rock_ – that was conveniently placed just to the right of the gates beside where he was previously standing – which knocked him out. They walked into to the village and started towards Karuki's house, which was now deserted, since she didn't live there anymore. But they didn't know that.

Deidara was leading. He moved along one of the back roads of the village, one of the ones that were only used in emergencies now, like he was there only yesterday.

They arrived after a few twists and turns – nearly getting caught once – only to see Kisano sitting on the front porch of Karuki's house, crying her eyes out. Deidara recognized her immediately and walked up to where she was sitting.

"Hey, Kisano. Remember me, un?" Deidara said happily, trying to cheer her up.

Kisano look up when she heard the 'un' and the end of the sentence. There is only one person she knows that has a verbal tick like that, and it is not someone you can easily forget. Though it was also someone that she hadn't seen in years.

"D... Dei? You're back?" asked Kisano, wiping away the tears that ran down her face, trying to look at least somewhat decent in front of him while she talked.

"For today, yeah. Do you know where Karuki is, un?" said Deidara.

Kisano's eyes filled with tears and she started to cry again.

"What did I do, yeah?" asked Deidara.

"Nothing. I-It's just Karuki… She… S-She's gone," Kisano choked out, trying to muffle her crying.

"Like gone shopping, hmm?" asked Deidara, clueless as to what had really happened.

"No brat, gone as in not here," Sasori said. "Girl, do you know where she went?" he asked, not bothering to add any kindness to his voice. He really couldn't care less if he sounded nice or not.

Kisano just shook her head.

"Damn, Leader-sama won't like this. Brat, we're leaving. Hurry up and say goodbye so we can go," said Sasori, already annoyed because he had to wait longer than he would have liked. He really isn't the type of person who will wait for anybody.

"Yeah, Danna, I hear you. Well, it was nice seeing you again, Kisano, un," said Deidara with a wave as he turned around to leave.

Kisano could only look at their figures, slowly getting smaller and smaller as they walked further along the path, back to where ever they came from.

Only when they left did she finally notice something about the two.

'_They were wearing the same cloaks,'_ she thought.

xXx

"Could you please explain to me just how the girl got away when you left only two days ago?" Pain seethed, anger clearly heard in his voice, though he was not shouting. He didn't need to, to get his point across.

"They must have known that we were coming beforehand and got away," Sasori explained, looking pain straight in the eye. Being a puppet with no emotions can come in handy sometimes.

"Do you know where she went?" asked Pain, calming down slightly. But only slightly.

"No, Leader-sama. She and her family were not in the village when we got there. They have fled," Sasori answered.

"Ok then, I'll have Zetsu scout the surrounding areas to see if there were any tracks left behind. Dismissed," Pain said with a wave of his hand.

(After Sasori and Deidara left)

"When shall I go?" Zetsu asked, rising up out of the ground in front of Pain's desk.

"Leave as soon as you can. We cannot risk losing her trail, if there is one at all. She will be a valuable asset to our organization if she is on our side," Pain stated.

"Understood," Zetsu said, morphing back into the ground to start his search.

Pain pinched the bridge of his nose, angry about the inefficiency of his organization. A group of S-ranked criminals should be able to find one little girl in less than a day. But no, it was taking longer than it should, and he was not happy about that.

'_Idiots,'_ he thought.

~xXx~

_Ugh... This chapter is really short and I don't like it. Hope you don't mind. But they will get longer, trust me._


	9. Chapter 9

~xXx~

Shikamaru woke up from his long needed slumber after his day out with Karuki. He put on all of his Chuunin gear and put his hair in that gay pineapple looking thing **(**side note from co-author I fuckin hate Shikamaru**)** – and walked out the front door after saying goodbye to his father. He walked through Konoha's market towards the apartment district where Karuki was staying while she was here. He noticed the streets were quite empty, unlike they were usually; bustling with life at this point. He took note of this but continued on anyway, thinking it was just going to be a slow day.

He knocked at Karuki's door and waited. When _he_got no reply after he had knocked a second time, _he_ figured she wasn't home and walked away. He went to the training grounds to see if she was there, she wasn't. He looked at Ichiraku's, but she wasn't there either. _He searched all the_ places in _Konoha_she would most likely be, but _to no avail_.

When he reached the main gate he found that everyone that should have been in the market place was there. They were all staring at the ground around the gates, and at the gates themselves, one of which had a large, human sized, dent in it. All Shikamaru could think when he saw this was "What the hell happened to Karuki?"

Xx Mega flash back of awesomeness to the previous night xX

Karuki woke with a start, beads of cold sweat running down her forehead. Why? Because that was one fucked up dream she just had.

You would think so too if you had a dream about that bastard pedo-snake torturing your parents… in detail. She decided to take a walk, trying to get that out of her mind. She walked around in the nearly dark village, the only light coming from the moon and the faint glow of the street lamps. She eventually figured she'd just go to the gate and turned onto another street and continued walking.

When she _got_to the front _gates_she had an eerie feeling that she was being watched. She ignored it and proceeded to pay attention to the stars, a light wind blowing her hair away from her face. A few minutes later the feeling of _being watched_ became too much. _Karuki_ spun around to face the gates. What _she_saw was a pair of glowing yellow eyes on the wall. She threw a kunai at the wall where they were, but the eyes disappeared.

She turned back around to see a man with two large venus fly-trap like extensions that envelop his head and upper body, giving him a plant-like appearance. He had short green hair, yellow eyes, and his body had two different colored halves. His left side was completely white and the right side was completely black with small white dots along his body where the color change happened. The black color doesn't extend all the way down his body, though, as his feet were both white.

The mysterious man threw a punch at Karuki but she had just enough time to block it. When she had a firm grasp on the assailant's fist she brought a leg and pressed her foot on the man's chest and used the leverage to a back flip off of him to gain some distance between them. The man stood in the same place, unaffected by to force she used to push off.

"Earth style: Nenten Koudo no jutsu," screamed Karuki after a few speedy hand signs. Immediately, tendrils of earth shot at the man twisting up around his body. He didn't flinch in any way nor did he fight it, he just stood there. In an instant, his body sank into the ground itself. Karuki was shocked but as she was an earth style user too, she did the same.

Evidently he was faster than she was, and she was ripped painfully out of the ground and was thrown up straight into the air. She flipped around in mid-air and landed on a nearby wall, only to be kicked off of it by the man. Since she was hurt enough to actually feel pain now, she activated her Seishou Tejina and healed the large bruises on her body quickly. She used her best sensory technique to try and tell where he was coming from next, but it was difficult.

Karuki sensed him right below her and prepared to move just as he was about to punch her in the face. She jumped when he came out of the ground and grabbed his fist, throwing him into the air like he had done to her. While he was in the air she made a few hand signs and screamed "Earth Style: Kasui no jutsu." A spike of earth sharper than any kunai impaled her assailant through the back when he fell back down. "**DAMN**," she heard a deep voice yell.

The man evaporated into the ground again, only this time he didn't give her a chance to try and sense him as he split in half underground. The white half slid underneath her and held onto her ankles and the black half rose up from the ground and gave her a good punch to the temple. She flew through the air and crashed into the gate, leaving a decent sized dent in it.

She got back up only to have the white half grab her again and the black half punch her in the throat. This knocked her out since she didn't have time to activate her Seishou Tejina. The two halves of the man merged back together and took Karuki underground with his mayfly technique, back to whence he came.

Xx Done with the mega flash back of awesomeness xX

"Shikamaru!" A voice was heard calling through the crowd. Shikamaru looked around to see a mass of pink hair near the back. He walked over to see Sakura there with a puzzled look on her face.

"What happened here?" she asked, looking at the mess.

Shikamaru sighed. "I'm not entirely sure, but I think it has something to do with Karuki. Have you seen her?" He asked.

"No, I haven't. But why would you think it has something to do with her?" asked Sakura.

"Think about it. She comes here saying the Akatsuki are after her and then not even twenty-four hours later she disappears. There is evidence here of some kind of battle that went on late at night, and she was nowhere to be found this morning. It would only make since that she was taken by the Akatsuki, as she had said before that they probably want her for her power in combat and ninjutsu. And we have to remember her Kekkei Genkai too," Shikamaru explained.

Sakura looked shocked. "If what you say is true, then we must tell Lady Tsunade immediately and send out a search party to look for her," She said. "And if the Akatsuki did take her, it only means that they are stronger than we previously thought."

"I know. And that is exactly what worries me so much. What would they do with a thirteen year old, anyway? Why not go after one of the older clan members?" Shikamaru asked himself.

~xXx~


	10. Chapter 10

~xXx~

Karuki woke up in a room. Not her room, she noticed. It was a room with a double-sized bed, a personal bathroom, a dresser, and a nightstand. The walls were colored a dull red and the floor was carpeted. A few seconds after she sat up the man who had attacked her the night before fazed out of a wall. _Karuki_tried to get off the bed but then found that they had tied her feet to the bed frame.

"Oh, you would fucking tie me up!" She yelled.

"Don't struggle," said the man, but only the white half of his mouth moved. "You might hurt your legs." The next thing the man said was when she heard a change in his voice. "**Who cares if she does**?" This time, the white half of his mouth did not move. "Don't be mean she could join us." "**I'll say what I want to say.**" "But what you say isn't nice most of the time. **"What's your point?"**

"Dude," Karuki said, interrupting them.

They both looked at her.

"Are you like bi-polar or some shit? 'Cuz if you're not, I'd be surprised," She asked.

"**No we are not bi-polar.**" "As far as we know." "**Damnit! Shut up! You're not helping us.**"They continued to argue with themselves.

"Are you going to tell me your name, or am I going to have to wait?" Karuki asked, interrupting their arguing once more.

"I'll tell you later. But right now Pain-sama wishes to speak with you," said the white half. She liked him, he was nice.

But the black half was sarcastic and kind of brutally honest, so she liked him too.

"Who's Pain?" asked Karuki curiously.

"You'll see," said the white half.

_'Eh, why the hell not,'_ Karuki thought to herself, getting up to follow the man.

"**How did you get out of the ropes?**" The man's black side asked.

Karuki shrugged. "It really wasn't that hard."

They both looked at her.

xXx

Karuki walked down the many halls following the plant man, mentally making a map of the place in her head so she would get lost when she wanders around; which she probably would anyway. She may be a good sensor, but she is hopeless with directions.

"Damnit Deidara-_chan_! Stop blowing shit up!" a man screamed.

As soon as Karuki heard the name 'Deidara' she paused. When it clicked, which took a few second, she ran into the room right after an explosion went off and tackled the first thing in reach… which wasn't Deidara. It was, in fact, a severely pissed off man with silver hair and purple-ish pink eyes.

"Aha… my bad," said Karuki warily.

"Get the fuck off me bitch!" said the silver haired man.

"Be nice Hidan," said white Zetsu. "She's new."

"I'll fucking try; no promises though. But little girl you are kinda cute so if you don't wanna get off that's fine with me," said Hidan.

"Creeper." Karuki got off immediately. "Where the hell is my blond terrorist?" She asked.

"Right behind you golden girl, un" said Deidara right before he playfully tackled Karuki. It didn't turn out how he planned though. Karuki quickly flipped them over, sat on top of him, and held his arm painfully behind his back.

"I hate that fucking nick name," growled Karuki, pulling his arm a bit harder.

"That's why I use it, un" said Deidara, wincing in pain at the fact that his arm was bending in ways it shouldn't be able to.  
**  
"I hate to break this up but Leader-sama is waiting,"** said black Zetsu.

Karuki got off Deidara and stood up.

"Oh, right. Mind if I come, Zetsu, hmm?" Deidara asked.

"**I guess**," said Zetsu, not really caring at all.

"Aw. But I wanted to see the blond fucker get beat up by a girl," Hidan complained.

The three walked through the base and after a few playful jokes, and in one case, a fight between Deidara and Karuki. They arrived at Leader's office after a few more minutes of walking.

"Enter," came a voice from the other side of the door. They hadn't even knocked yet.

Zetsu opened the door and walked in while the others followed.

"Hello Pain, Konan," Zetsu greeted, dipping his head to each of them respectfully.

"Hello Zetsu, Deidara, Karuki," said Pain, whom she assumed was the leader. But the darker aura coming from the shadowed corner of the room behind Pain's desk said otherwise.

"Karuki, I didn't want to force you to come here, but we couldn't think of any other way to do, so I sent Zetsu after you –"

"Well that explains a shit load," Karuki said, not intimidated by the supposed leader of the Akatsuki.

"I would prefer it if you not interrupt me," said Pain.

"Anyway. The reason we brought you here is you are an exceptional ninja, even to us. I mean genin at 6 Chuunin at 7 and now jounin at 13. It is very impressive. We want you to join our ranks and help me bring peace to this world. The world is cruel and the more members we have the closer we are to peace. So will you join us? Asked Pain confidently.

Karuki looked at him. "Hold up; let me see if I got this straight. You're asking me, a _thirteen year old_ girl, to join an organization of _S-ranked criminals_, to help you bring _peace_ to the world?" she asked skeptically.

"Yes," he answered simply.

"Alright, sure. I'll join."

"Good choice. Konan here will get you one of the Akatsuki cloaks," said Pain

"Come over here Karuki," said a sweet, yet strong voice from over by a closet on the office. Karuki walked over to where she was.

"Hi I'm Konan. I'm the only other girl so it will be nice to have another girl here. You'd be surprised how hard it is to be around nine other guys all the time," said Konan

"Well I'm glad there's another girl, then," Karuki joked. "So where are these cloaks?" she asked.

"Right in here," said Konan as she opened the door which was stocked with other cloaks, shirts, pants, and shoes. She rifled through them and pulled out one of the smaller cloaks and handed it to Karuki. She pulled a shirt and a pair of pants, (again, one of the smaller sizes), then bent down and sifted through the shoes, grabbed a pair and handed them to Karuki also.

"That's everything you need. The room where you woke up in is your new room. You can change in there. Now you don't have to wear the cloak around the base, but you have to wear them when you go out on missions," said Konan. Karuki nodded and was about to leave, but Pain stopped her with a cough.

"Yessssss?" asked Karuki, dragging out the question, looking back at her 'leader'.

"Tonight you may rest, but tomorrow we need you to fight Deidara so we can get an accurate gauge of your skills," said Pain

"Oh, that's fine… _Perfectly_ fine," said Karuki with a sly look, a sadistic smirk gracing her face. "And don't worry, Dei. I'll go easy on you."

And just for fun, she let out a low, evil-ish chuckle when she walked out the door.

"Should I be scared, un?" Deidara asked.

"I think that would be wise on your part," Pain mused, nodding his head.

~xXx~

_I know this chapter doesn't seem that logical, but it works. Yeah, a thirteen year old girl probably wouldn't join a group of criminals, but again, it will help the story play out in later chapters._

_I just kinda go with it._

_So until the next chapter, Bye._


	11. Chapter 11

~xXx~

Karuki woke up and stretched. She looked around to make sure there was no a creepy vegetable man watching her; there wasn't.

She sat up and cracked her knuckles, then her neck. After that was the "gross" (It really isn't) sound of her whole spine cracking as well.

"Today is a good day to kick an old friend's ass," she said cheerfully.

She got dressed in her normal attire and put on her two headbands; again one on each arm (I think she uses magic) and walked out the door and into a hallway. There was a person standing against the wall in front of her door wearing casual ninja clothing, but there was an outline of a circle you could see through the shirt right where his heart should be. Said person also had kind of spiky red hair and a ring on his left thumb.

"Hello, new brat," he said. "I believe you know my partner, Deidara."

"If you're his partner, then you're Akasuna no Sasori?" Karuki asked.

"Yes."

"You can't be. I've seen 'em in the Bingo Book. He was all hunched over and had black hair, and looked like a bloody porcupine. You kinda don't look like that," she said, gesturing to how he looked now.

"What you have seen is my protective puppet Hiruko. I rarely fight looking like this because I'm a puppet master," Sasori explained.

"How do you control Hiruko then, if no one's ever seen you?" Karuki asked, puzzled.

"I operate from the inside."

"That's… really weird," Karuki deadpanned.

"Yes, well, I am Sasori. And until we find a partner for you, you will work with Deidara and me. I will call you 'new brat' and you will call me 'Danna', Understood?" said Sasori.

"Danna? As in master? No chance in hell, and new brat? Who the fuck do you think you are!? My name is Karuki Aisuru and you will use it. I'm not some random bitch you can go around and call whatever the fuck you want!" Karuki yelled, glaring at him.

"You _will_ call me Danna, and I _will_ call you new brat," Sasori said venomously.

"And what if I don't?" asked Karuki defiantly.

"Then I'll kill you and make you part of my puppet collection," said Sasori as if he were discussing the weather.

Karuki just stood there.

"Now then, new brat, follow me so we can get this little fight over."

"Tch, bitch," she grumbled.

xXx

They navigated through the halls until they reached a door that led to a room full of weapons and training equipment. Sasori led her to the other side of the room to another door. He opened it, revealing a large circular room that was mostly taken up by a twelve foot deep crater in the middle of it. He motioned for Karuki to go in first, and then followed her. Karuki saw Deidara down in the previously mentioned crater with his shirt off revealing the mouth he had right over his heart. There were a bunch of other men in the room she didn't know, including the silver haired one who looked severely pissed off for being up this early in the morning.

"Hey bitch, get down there and kick blondie's ass so I can get some fucking sleep," said Hidan, pointing down into the crater.

"I'll kick his ass, but not for you. I'm still pissed at him for leaving," Karuki said jumping into the pit after cracking her knuckles.

As she was falling she made some hand signs and the second her feet hit she punched the ground and screamed "Earth Style: Jishin no jutsu!" and a split in the ground approached Deidara. She discretely put her other hand down on the ground and placed one of her special seals there. Deidara jumped to avoid the attack and threw some clay spiders at Karuki, which exploded on contact. Deidara landed on the ground and smirked, only to be interrupted by Karuki jumping out of ground behind him (propelling herself up with her hand and placing another seal on the ground) and kicked him in the back.

"Dumbass, it was a clone," said Karuki.

Just as that happened, she was kicked in the back and was flung forward. She adjusted herself in midair and landed on the wall.

"So was that, yeah," said Deidara.

"Exactly," she grinned, making some hand signs and slammed her hand on the ground. Rocks shot from the ground taking the form of hands and grabbed Deidara's limbs.

After Karuki went through some hand signs she placed the final of the four seals needed for her jutsu on the ground, creating a square. The other seals began to glow golden with her chakra and connected so a visible square could be seen. It formed a barrier of golden chakra around Deidara and Karuki herself.

Seeing the shock look on Deidara's face Karuki smirked. "Cool isn't it. I got the idea from Shishi Enjin when I was studying different types of barriers. It's easier to use because you don't need four people to activate it and it's impossible to break from the outside, and even the inside, as long as I'm conscious. No one can get in or out except me. So, let's see how you deal."

She casually walked up to him and punched him in the gut, then elbowed him in the face, and then the chest. She pulled back for another but one of Deidara's legs broke free and he kicked her in the side of her ribcage.

Deidara got his other limbs out and reached for his clay. When he didn't feel his pouch at his waist he looked over to Karuki and saw her holding it up in front of her, a smug look on her face. "Looking for this, Dei?"

Deidara ran at her, fully intent on getting his clay back, but was intercepted by rock wall. He realized too late that he was going too fast and ran into said wall.

Karuki took this opportunity to jump up from beneath the ground and upper cut him. While he was in midair she made pillars of rocks spring from the ground and hit him in the back. Once he hit the ground, he was in no condition to fight.

"I think I won," said Karuki happily, making the barrier disappear.

"Indeed you did, Congratulations Karuki, you are now officially a member of the Akatsuki. We will start looking for a partner for you immediately, but for now, you will work with Sasori and Deidara," said Pain. With the fight over, everyone left the training ground to go do whatever it is they do when not on missions. The only person who didn't leave was Hidan, who jumped into the pit.

"That was an awesome ass kicking," Hidan laughed, then stomped on Deidara's chest.

"I know it was. And it felt damn good too," said Karuki with a smile.

"Haha, well Pain says I gotta go get some groceries from town, because the fucking pansy can't do it himself," said Hidan

"Can I come?" asked Karuki. "I wanna explore."

"Sure, why the hell not," replied Hidan.

They met at the front of the base after Hidan got dressed and grabbed his scythe. They left after that.

~xXx~


	12. Chapter 12

~xXx~

Hidan and Karuki were walking towards the village in silence when Karuki disrupted it.

"Alright, I'm bored."

"That's fucking great," Hidan said not looking at her.

"You're gonna fix this," Karuki commanded Hidan.

"The fuck are you talking 'bout?" Hidan asked, looking down at her like she was crazy… well she never said she wasn't.

"We're gonna play twenty questions," She stated.

"What?"

"First question," Karuki said, holding up a finger, ignoring the look she was getting from Hidan. "What is that necklace?" she asked, pointing to the ornament hanging from a chain on Hidan's chest.

"Well first off, it's a fucking pendant not a necklace," Hidan started. "And second, it is the symbol of my religion, Jashinism. Jashinism is a religion that requires a masochistic love and self harm, and stresses that anything less than death and utter destruction is a sin. The religion's laws require that you understand the pain of others, therefore giving a person the right to give that same pain. That means that you cannot kill someone unless you are dead or have been killed, which is perfect for me because I'm immortal. Another requirement is that you pray to Lord Jashin every day."

"Wow, you didn't cuss once during that second part," said Karuki, _very_ astonished.

"I know. Jashin-sama is the one person I actually respect," said Hidan giving a distant look to the forest.

"What about leader-sama?" asked Karuki, wondering what had drawn Hidan's attention to the forest.

"Him? I'd kill him if I ever got the chance," said Hidan without second thought.

"Oh really? I'd love to see you try," Karuki scoffed.

"Tch, whatever bitch," said Hidan with a slight chuckle, patting her on the head.

The conversation went on. Karuki learned about Hidan, and Hidan, in turn, learned more about Karuki.

"You know what Hidan" asked Karuki, looking up at him.

"What?"

"You would be perfect for my friend Kisano!"

"Oh really?" asked Hidan "What's the bitch like?"

"Well…" started Karuki. She told him how awesome Kisano was and how she was almost as good as herself because she taught her everything she knew. She didn't stop until they reached the small village to buy groceries. This cost more because Karuki decided she would start cooking for her new family. Needless to say this pissed off Kakuzu when they returned.

Silly little miser.

xXx a few weeks later xXx

Hidan and Karuki had become close friends after their little shopping experience. Karuki had also befriended Konan, Sasori, Kisame, and Tobi. Deidara, remembering everything about him, she had no problem becoming as close as they were before. She had a mutual understand with Itachi, Zetsu, Pain, and Kakuzu, the more serious members of the Akatsuki. Sasori and Karuki were total sarcastic assholes towards each other but were still good friends. Kisame was her cuddle bunny, and Tobi was her hyperactive prank buddy. Being serious all the time could be tiring sometimes.

Right now, Hidan, Karuki, Tobi, and Kisame were all sitting in the living room. Karuki was cuddling up next Kisame and leaning against Tobi while Hidan was poking her in the face with the butt of his scythe trying to get her to make him a sammich.

This went on for several minutes.

"Hidan, I swear, if you poke me one more time with your god-damned scythe, I will murder you purely for my own entertainment," Karuki growled through clenched teeth.

"I think you should stop Hidan," Kisame laughed. "I have no doubt in my mind that she will follow through with that threat."

"I'll stop when she makes me a damned sammich," Hidan said, a little too loudly, and poked Karuki again.

"Fucker!" she yelled at Hidan.

She turned to Kisame, anger gone from her face.

"Kisame-kun. Could you let me up for just a bit? I need to take care of something." She asked, giving him a completely innocent look. Kisame just laughed and unwrapped his arms from around her body. She got up from leaning on Tobi and took out a black and red sealing scroll from her hip pouch. She proceeded to unroll the scroll, bite her thumb, and smear the blood on the kanji on the inside. A poof of smoke and there she stood, her summoning scythe in hand.

Karuki's scythe was a little shorter than she was. I was a gold, double bladed type with two fairly large rubies on either end. There was black grip tape in the middle of the handle for, well, better grip. It also had three half-leaf-like spikes coming off the rubies and three full spikes coming off the handled just below where the blades were. The blades themselves had black streaks on them, starting from the tip and fading towards the middle and near the base of the blades were blue swirls.

"Woah, woah, woah!...Where the fuck did you get that, bitch?" Hidan asked, eyeing the scythe with distaste.

"It's my summoning scythe. Everyone in my clan has one. Why? Having second thoughts about challenging me?" She asked playfully, putting the scroll back in her pouch.

"Fuck no! I just didn't know you used a scythe too. This match just got a little more exciting," Hidan explained, getting up from off the couch and sliding into a battle stance.

"Don't kick his ass too hard, Karuki. We still need him for missions," Kisame said from where he was across the room. Good idea on his part.

"Oh, I won't. He's just going to get a light ass kicking today," Karuki joked. "Tobi. Be a dear and start the match."

"Ok, Karuki-chan," Tobi yelled from the opposite side of the room. "3…2…1… TOBI SAYS GO!"

As soon the word left Tobi's mouth, Karuki and Hidan were at each other's throats. Slicing through the air with their scythes, dodging before getting cut in half, and cussing at each other was how most the battle went. But as soon as Karuki had an opening, she took it. Jumping behind a conveniently placed chair, she kicked it at Hidan. It flew through the air at him. It was about to hit him when he chopped it in half. When he looked up though, he saw Karuki right behind the chair, about to swing her scythe at him. His eyes widened.

It connected.

Hidan was beyond surprised to find his head flying through the air and crashing into the ground.

"Hehe. I win," Karuki said, smug, but still panting.

"YOU MOHTER FUCKING SON-OF-A-BITCH! YOU CHOPPED MY HEAD OFF! FUCKING WHORE! JUST WAIT TILL I GET MY BODY BACK! I'LL –" He was cut off from his yelling when Karuki stepped over to his and duck-taped his mouth shut. Oh, the wonders of duck-tape.

"Ah, the silence. Kisame-kun, Tobi, come cuddle with me again. I'm tired," Karuki said after storing her scythe back in its scroll.

"OK KARUKI-CHAN!"

"Sure."

They all sat down on the surprisingly undamaged couch in the same position they were before the fight.

Everyone was comfortable.

But, alas, something just had to ruin that. And all because Zetsu walked in.

"Karuki, leader-sama wants to see you," he said and walked out, ignoring the mess of the obvious fight.

"Kisame," said Karuki "I don't wanna stop cuddling so you're carrying me."

"Fair enough," Kisame said with a smirk.

xXx

Kisame carried Karuki to Pain's office, the entire time her head was nuzzled into his chest. Once they got there, the door opened to reveal Pain sitting at his desk, looking over what appeared to be someone's file.

"Ah, good you're here," said Pain "And hello Kisame"

Kisame nodded at him. "Leader-sama."

"Yo," Karuki greeted.

"We found you a partner Karuk," said Pain. He was never one to beat around the bush.

"Really? What village?" asked Karuki her head still nuzzled in Kisame's chest, not really caring at all.

"Iwagakure," said Pain with a slight smirk, waiting for her reaction.

Karuki jumped up and out of Kisame's arms, landing painfully on the ground. "Who is it," She asked frantically. "Dammit. Tell me who!"

"Kisano Utsukushii."

~xXx~

_Oh he's evil…_

_Not really but I had to say that. And yup, it's the same Kisano that is Karuki's best friend. Just wait until they meet. That'll be fun._

_That's it for this chapter._

_Ja Ne. _


	13. Chapter 13

~xXx~

"Let's go you worthless piece of shit and Kakuzu!" Karuki yelled a good 60 feet in front of Kakuzu and Hidan.

"Shut the fuck up, bitch," retorted Hidan angrily picking up his pace so he could beat (in the sense of hurting) her. Kakuzu sensed this and threw some tentacles around him before he got to close.

"Thanks, my lovely miser!" yelled Karuki while simultaneously turning around and blowing a kiss to said money hound. Kakuzu, being the 'too cool for emotions bad-ass' he is, just simply smiled beneath his mask where no one could see. He had grown fond of Karuki and treated her like a daughter, protecting her but also listening when an ear was needed. Karuki picked up on the relationship almost immediately and kind of liked it because her dad was kidnapped by that flaming faggot who doesn't even deserve to be mentioned.

And if you somehow seem to like that bastard than shame...

The three of them were on their way to Iwagakure. Sadly there was no yellow brick road towards the rock village, but there were tree branches and the occasional dirt road.

"We're almost there guys, move your asses!" Karuki yelled excitedly.

"Calm yourself child, we will be there no matter how fast me move. If you move to fast you might fall and hurt yourself, which in turn would cost me money, and we couldn't have that now could we?" asked Kakuzu like the cold hearted miser he is.

"Of course not," said Karuki slowing her pace to stay with Kakuzu. "Hey is Hidan still alive?" Kakuzu looked at his side and saw Hidan was blue in the face because Kakuzu's tentacles had covered his nose and mouth.

"Oops" said Kakuzu nonchalantly and dropped the tentacles from his face, still confining his body.

"YOU JASHIN DAMNED BASTARD, I WILL GOUGE OUT YOUR EYEBALLS AND SKMPH FMPH YMPH!" screamed Hidan although Kakuzu didn't like what he was hearing so he cut him off before he could finish.

"Aww," Karuki wined "I wanted to hear his pathetic threat."

Kakuzu just shrugged, "I didn't."

They jumped through the trees with Karuki and Kakuzu making small talk about money and such, until Karuki saw rocks. She ran faster than Minato using his Flying Thunder-God Technique towards her home, but more importantly towards her best friend.

xXx

"KISANO!" Karuki screamed. "KISANO!"

She screamed Kisano's name again about twenty times while running throughout Iwa. Karuki stopped and thought about everything she knew about Kisano. She snapped her fingers and bolted towards the woods, towards a familiar clearing with a small shack perched in the middle next to a small pond.

She ran towards the front and bursts through the door to see Kisano and Dojisu kissing on Kisano's bed. Neither looked up, it seemed they were into it. Karuki ran over and ripped Dojisu from his place on top of her best friend, threw him in a corner, and assumed the same position he was in, minus the kissing part.

What happened next surely broke Karuki's ear drums. It was a mixture of her name, crying, squealing, name calling, and over all loving sounds coming from Kisano, who then wrapped her arms firmly around Karuki and rolled onto the floor with her, in a flurry of hugs and love.

"YOU'RE BACK! FINALLY! THE LOVE OF MY LIFE IS BACK!" screamed Kisano; the love of her life thing has been their thing for 4 years now. There was a small protest from Dojisu in the corner he was flung to. But both girls stared at him with a silent 'be quiet before I kill you' look... Well at least that's what Karuki's look looked like.

"You've been gone a month, meanie head!" said Kisano with a pout, lightly smacking Karuki in the head.

"I know and I'm sorry but this wasn't my choice!" Karuki defended herself.

"Then who's was it?" Kisano asked.

"Well, at first, it was the Tsuchikage's, then my parents, then Konoha's -"

"Then ours," a voice interrupted from the doorway.

"That was fast," said Karuki not caring to look back.

"Thank Hidan; he knew you would come here." Kakuzu said.

"That mother fucker barely let me fucking breathe until I kicked one of his damn hearts." complained Hidan, still breathing heavily.

"One of?" Kisano asked tentatively.

"I'll explain later." said Karuki "But for now I have a proposition."

"Go on."

"Where to start?" Karuki questioned herself, pressing her thumb to her lower lip. "Well, you see the cloaks me and Kakuzu are wearing?" asked Karuki.

"What about me bitch?" asked Hidan

"No one gives two shits about you, Hidan," said Karuki with a playful smile.

"Yes," interrupted Kisano "I see them."

"Well, we're part of an organization called the Akatsuki, who I think of as family. I'm the newest member, and I need a partner so our leader, Pain, looked for qualified ninja that might compliment my skills, and by dumb luck he picked you. So I come here today to ask you to join my family. Come back with me and join the Akatsuki." said Karuki hopefully.

"Damn bitch, it sounds like your proposing." said Hidan with a slight snicker. Karuki gave a slight nod to Kakuzu, whom then proceeded to grab Hidan by the throat and drag him outside. They heard multiple punches then Kakuzu walked back in with the left side of his face spattered with blood.

"So, join my family?" asked Karuki in spite of what Kakuzu looked like to Kisano.

"OF COURSE!" screamed Kisano tackling her with another hug which ended them up on the floor again.

"What about me?" came a voice from the corner.

"What about you?" Karuki snapped.

"I'm in love with the girl your cuddling with and she's about to leave and join a group of murderers, liars, and rouge ninja!" said Dojisu, starting to tear up.

Karuki stood up and walked over to him and kicked him in the jaw.

"Don't you dare speak of my family like that. If you do so again, they will be your last words. Understood?" said Karuki in a low, evil voice.

"You've changed," Dojisu said, wiping blood dripping from the corner of his mouth.

"For the better, I'm not the sensei you use to know." was her reply and she walked back to Kisano.

"You can come visit me, at my new.. Family's.. place." said Kisano cheerfully, though hesitant at using the word family without even know them yet.

"No." That came from Kakuzu. "Like that runt said, we are rouge ninja, we have to keep our whereabouts a secret, we can't have a shinobi still loyal to his village come and visit every so often."

"Could I go visit him?" asked Kisano.

"I suppose but not in the village, maybe in the middle of the woods somewhere with another Akatsuki member present, you know formalities and all that." said Kakuzu.

Kisano looked over at Dojisu, who decided to break the silence.

"As long as I get to see you I don't care what the stipulations are," He said with a smile directed towards Kisano.

"Yay!" she said

"Well I'm sorry to cut this short but, leader-sama will be pissed if we aren't back by tonight so I bid you a-due Dojisu, and sorry I overreacted, but still I love these guys with all my heart so be nice to 'em, ok?" said Karuki sweetly.

"Ya know I never could say no to you," he said.

After Kisano and Dojisu kissed and said goodbye, everyone left the hut. Kakuzu went over to Hidan, who was out cold laying on the ground, his head submerged in the water.

"That can't be good!" said Kisano very worried like. "What if he's dead?"

Kakuzu laughed. "Then I'd be the happiest person in the world."

"Huh?" Kisano asked, confused as to why Kakuzu was not paying any mind to his partners life.

"I'll explain later" said Karuki, a little behind everybody.

Kakuzu slung Hidan over his shoulder and walked through the woods, back to whence they came.

xXx

The four made their way back to the base. Hidan woke up a few minutes after they left the village and was immediately dropped by Kakuzu, who had still been carrying him.

On the way back Karuki pushed Kisano towards Hidan, because she liked him more than Dojisu. Kisano could tell and tried to push away, which only made Karuki try and push harder. She made Hidan carry Kisano bridal style because she was "slow" even though she wasn't. But no one has to know about that.

"They made it back to base and set Kisano up in a room connected to Karuki's. They go her fitted for her robes, shoes, and pants. After that was over the two girls had a slumber party in Karuki's room. They went over how Kisano became a jounin and when Dojisu said he loved Kisano for the first time. They both eventually went to get in bed and the base was quiet."

"BITCH STOP FUCKING NARRATING!" Hidan yelled from down the hall where his room was.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP HOE! SOME PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO SLEEP!" Karuki yelled back, and then proceeded to ignore what Hidan was yelling at her and actually went to sleep.

~xXx~

_Chapter 13 done and done._

_And to address a review:_

_**BleachBunneh**__: First off, thanks. Honestly, I like a person who's not afraid to say what they're thinking. I will take what you said into consideration and try to fix what you see as wrong. I really do want this story to be as enjoyable as it can be for anybody._

_Regarding what your review says, _

_I know at first it seems like Karuki is all Mary-sue-ish, but as I have said before, she really isn't. Her promotions up the ranks aren't really Mary-sue at all. It's the same as Kakashi's and, hell, Itachi was an ANBU _captain _at 13. Karuki can in fact die, like anyone else, is just hard to kill her. She's not immortal like Hidan. She does have weaknesses, they're just not that easy to find. And, again, her Kekkei Genkai does have faults, I just have not elaborated on them yet._

_Yeah, it is a typical plot. Couldn't think of anything else really -_-;_

_The author's notes aren't random. I say what I have to say when I have to. And they're at the end of the chapter for a reason, not in the middle of the chapter, so not random, per say._

_Yes she does care about her parents, very much so, actually. And she will do something about it, just wait until tomorrow. And, yes, she does know she's with a bunch of murders, but she doesn't see them as just ruthless killing machines. They are people, and they have emotions, no matter how much they try to hide them and she exploits that._

_The random bolding and italicizing are there to add emphasis on certain parts of the sentence. If it really is that annoying, then I'll try my best to cut down on where I use it, but sometimes I'll have to. _

_With that said, please PM me if you have anything else to say and I'll be more than happy to hear it and I'll try my best to fix everything. Thanks for the review though, I like it regardless of if it's a flame or not. _


	14. Chapter 14

~xXx~

Karuki woke up and saw Kisano's bed empty. She got up and got dressed in her usual non-mission attire, then put on the finishing touches, like her headbands (fucking magic I tell you). She was about to open the door when it was slammed for her by Hidan who was running in. He spun around Karuki while simultaneously saying, and I quote, "Morning bitch, now get the fuck out of the way." Before she had said anything in reply, Kisano was in the doorway holding a bar of soap. Karuki grabbed Kisano's arm before she got by.

"What the hell is going on?" she asked tiredly.

"He cusses more than you!" was Kisano's, rather loud, response.

"Don't say that, he might get the idea he is superior," said Karuki, sighing.

"I fucking am bitch!" Hidan yelled from where he was hiding, which was under Kisano's bed.

"The fuck you say?!" asked Karuki, turning around.

"You heard me, whore!" responded Hidan, popping his head out from under the bed so he could see them.

"Whatever, but what's with the soap?" asked Karuki, still restraining Kisano.

"I'm gonna wash his mouth out!" said Kisano, struggling a bit more.

"Like hell you are!" screamed Hidan, going back to the dark abyss under the bed.

"That sounds like fun," said Karuki who released Kisano and then proceeded to dive under the bed. The two rolled out into the open. Hidan opened his mouth to say 'fuck you' but Kisano saw this as an opening and shoved the soap in. She put her hand on his mouth so he couldn't spit it out.

After a few minutes of struggling she removed her hand and let him spit the soap out.

"DEAR JASHIN MY MOUTH TASTES LIKE A..." Hidan stopped when he saw Kisano raise the bar of soap again as a wordless threat. "…butt," was his change of words.

"Good boy," said Karuki patting him on the head. "Now then we must introduce Kisano to the rest of us misfits," said Karuki with a smile. "Come along, children."

xXx

The trio walked out of Kisano's and Karuki's room and started towards the kitchen where everybody else was up and eating. They all stared at the three of them as they walked in.

"Good morning my lovely gang of misfits," said Karuki as she walked in. She walked over to Kisame.

"Pick me up and put me on your shoulders~?" she asked with the sweetest smile she could, her eyes just shining with 'innocence'. Kisame laughed but complied and quickly swung Karuki up and onto his shoulders.

"Attention my lovelies, this here is my best friend in the whole world, Kisano. She is also my

new partner. Do anything to hurt her and _I'll Kill You_…" Karuki started, leaking a whole bunch of KI. "Now, I'm going to introduce you all to her, so shut up," she explained, acting like nothing happened.

Before anyone moved, Kisano saw Deidara and ran over to him and hugged him, then smacked him, then hugged him again.

Deidara didn't look shocked at all. He just hugged back saying "Missed you too, un."

After that little episode, Sasori was the first to move. He stood up straight from leaning against the wall and approached Kisano.

"This here is Akasuna no Sasori. But you can just call him Danna; I don't though. He is a sarcastic asshole but I love him." He glared at her.

Next up was Zetsu.

"Here we have Zetsu, he is bi-polar and schizophrenic… and a cannibal. _He can help us get rid of the bodies~!_ I mean what? Haha, anyway, he is also a plant that is to cool for emotions." He just smirked.

Next up was Itachi.

"This here is my weasel, but don't call him that, he hates it, (not really). He is one of the last… two… remaining member of the Uchiha clan. He is also to cool for emotions," said Karuki flashing a smile at Itachi.

He stared, but you could just feel the love… I think.

Then came Konan.

"This is the most beautiful girl in the world, but she will also kick your ass with origami. I love you Konan," said Karuki.

"Love you too sweetie," said Konan with a smile. After Konan walked back, Pain approached Kisano.

"That badass motherfucker in front of you is our fearless leader who can destroy an entire village with his Shinra Tensei. It's best if you not get him mad," said Karuki.

Pain nodded at the two girls and sat down at the head of the table.

"Next is Tobi –" she started but was cut off.

"TOBI IS A GOOD BOY~!" Tobi shouted, randomly jumping up in front of Kisano.

"…Yeah. As you may have heard he is a… good boy… and also one of the more annoying members. Like us put together when we're high on sugar times five," Karuki explained.

"Holy shit."

Everyone nodded. Tobi saluted to Kisano and Karuki and then ran out the door of the kitchen.

"And finally this lovely cuddle bunny here, the one I am currently sitting on, is Kisame" said Karuki nuzzling her cheek on the top of his head.

"Wow, Karuki. You were right," Kisano said.

"About what, may I ask," Sasori asked, feeling the need to hurt Karuki after this.

"That you're all a bunch of weird-ass mother fuckers, but you are all so lovely," said Kisano calmly, like she didn't just indirectly insult the most dangerous S-ranked criminal organization. (Looks like Sasori was right.)

They all just stared at her as the two girls laughed.

xXx

The rest of the day was spent training and playing throughout the base with everyone spending some time with Kisano to get to know her. When dinner time came, everyone sat around a large dining table for a "family" – if that's what you would call it – dinner.

Once everyone had finished the main course, Karuki walked back into the kitchen and brought out a large cake that she had made just for this occasion. It had "Welcome to the Family" written in icing on the front. Everyone ate it until there were only about two pieces left.

"Ok. Now that everyone has had their fill, I have an important request to make," Karuki stated seriously.

"Do go on," said Pain leaning forward, resting his elbows on the table and interlocking his fingers.

"I wish to put together a small strike team. This team will have one meaning and one meaning only, and that is to get my parents back from Orochimaru's lair. I have been thinking hard about who would be best suited from this team and I have come to a conclusion. I request to have Kisame, Itachi, Hidan, Sasori, Kisano, and myself. We will leave the day after tomorrow if you agree," said Karuki, imitating the pose Pain had made, not in a mocking way just as an intrigued way.

"Yes, I give you permission to put together your strike team. But if and when you get your parents back, take them back to Iwa and make sure they don't know what happened to you. Meaning do not let them know you are in the Akatsuki. Do you understand?" He asked.

"Hai, Leader-sama."

~xXx~


	15. Chapter 15

~xXx~

The small strike team was on their way Oro-teme's base. Karuki and Kisano were in the lead with Hidan right behind them; Sasori, Itachi and Kisame were in the back mainly looking for some of orochimaru-teme's henchmen, or other bastards that work for him.

"Stop," Karuki commanded in a whisper. "Mask your chakra." Everyone but Hidan did as they were told. Not really a surprise.

"Why?" he asked.

"Just do it," Karuki hissed. Hidan sneered but masked his too.

Not a second later, they saw a teenage boy with jet black hair, which very much resembled a chicken's ass. Said boy was wearing a white kimono top with black kimono bottom, and had purple rope tied around his waist, which was also holding a katana. Kisame looked at Itachi immediately recognizing him to be Itachi's little brother. Itachi looked back at Kisame and shook his head, which is silent bad-ass speak for 'don't tell the others, this will remain a secret'.

The boy stomped on the ground. Immediately the ground slid open about 5 feet in front of him, revealing a staircase, which he walked down.

"There," said Karuki "That is our entrance."

"We should wait a few minutes before entering so Sas -... the boy doesn't notice our entrance."

"What were you about to say Itachi?" asked Sasori, noticing his slip-up.

"Nothing," Kisame said for him.

"Hn," agreed Itachi. The group sat in the trees checking their supplies and weapons; making sure everything was sharp and deadly and/or poisonous.

"Let's go," said Karuki getting her scythe from its scroll and putting it on her back, much like Hidan has his. The group approached the spot where the boy had stood and Hidan stomped on the ground. As expected, the doors opened but this time there was more than just a staircase. There was a boy in purple clothing waiting. He was (as dubbed by me) a silver-haired, glasses wearing bitch. Karuki got into her battle stance, recognizing the queer.

"Down girl," said Sasori, placing a hand on her head "He is under my control. When Orochimaru was still in the Akatsuki I put this brat under my... influence, because I never trusted that snake loving bastard. Move aside Kabuto." finished Sasori with a stern voice.

"Yes sir," said the human puppet.

"Now one more thing, where are this girl's parents?" Sasori asked... no, demanded.

"Third hall on the left; cell 72c. This key will open it," said Kabuto handing Sasori the key. Sasori handed the key to Karuki.

"Let's do this shit." Karuki said, entering the hideout.

The group ran to the third hall and made a left after dispatching a few lowly henchmen, who put up absolutely no fight. *Tch... Losers.* They continued running down the hall and as they passed cell 68c they heard a blood curdling scream. They saw the door to room 72c open and Orochimaru exiting. He turned towards the group and licked some blood of the top of his lip. Karuki assumed the worst and jumped at him. She kicked him square in the jaw, and even though his head was painfully forced to the side, he just smiled at her. He started to walk away but Karuki summoned a wall stopping him.

"You will die, for what you did," she said in a low, maleficent voice, drawing her scythe.

"Not today," he said. He disappeared through the floor just as Karuki swung her scythe at him. Kisame walked up to Karuki and hugged her tightly, pinning her body against his.

"It'll be okay, your parents are here, remember? Let's go get them." Kisame said, walking Karuki towards the door. He could see into the room first as her face was still buried in his chest. Karuki started to take her head away but Kisame put it right back. He beckoned Sasori over and whispered something to him. Sasori walked behind Karuki and pushed his fingers into her neck to knock her out. Hidan then did the same to Kisano.

"Hidan, carry Kisano. Sasori get Karuki's father's body, and Itachi go calm her mother down and carry her." Kisame ordered. No one argued or even rolled their eyes. They got their respective bodies, and walked out to the hall towards the stairs. As they passed the first hall the boy they saw earlier entered, holding a bowl of rice.

"I- Itachi?" questioned the boy dropping the rice and grabbing his katana. "All these years I've trained and waited and now my moment has finally arrived. Prepare to die big brother."

Itachi walked up to him.

"Hate me, little brother." Itachi said, punching Sasuke in the throat. "One day you will kill me, but that day is not today."

Karuki, sensing something really funny just happened, stirred in her sleep muttering something along the lines of 'chicken ass' and 'loser.'

The girls didn't wake up until they were about ten minutes from Iwagakure.

"What the fuck happened? Who the fuck knocked me out? I'll kill their ass," said Karuki rubbing her neck.

"Shh, everything's alright, just stay calm," said her mother.

"MOM?! They got you back!" said Karuki looking at Kisano, who was also ecstatic. "Where's Dad?!" She looked at her mother, at Kisame, Itachi, and Sasori. Their faces were all grief-stricken.

Karuki's expression registered shock, and then became creepily calm. "That snake bastard killed him." It was not a question, but a statement. "He. Will. DIE!" Karuki screamed the last word, gold chakra exploding out from her. She completely lost her self-control and her chakra slowly grew darker and darker until it was almost completely black.

"It can't be….The... Ichiban... Tate..."

Karuki's mother was shocked.

"What it that? What is the Ichiban Tate?" Sasori asked, ushering everyone away from Karuki. The chakra was too dangerous for any of them to be near.

"It is the second stage of my clan's Kekkei Genkai. But I never thought anybody in this generation would be able to awaken it. The last time anyone awoke it was over one-hundred and thirty years ago, but he was sealed when he proved to be too dangerous to be out in the open. He was practically immortal." Karuki's mother explained. "I don't know how Karuki will be able to handle this though. She's not that good at controlling her emotions, so she's unstable."

"Right. Kisame! Use Samehada and suck that extra chakra out. She needs to calm down," ordered Sasori. Kisame complied, swinging Samehada in a wide arc just barely missing the front of Karuki. The black chakra started to fade and turn to its original gold, and then disappeared completely. Karuki had fainted after.

"I doubt she will be able to remember what happened. Not after that. I suggest we figure out how to explain this to her when she wakes up." Itachi said... Always count on him for logic.

They waited about an hour before Karuki started to wake up. Naturally she cussed out the universe first thing, but she always does that. Itachi and Sasori explained what happened to her when she asked, because she could not, in fact, remember.

Karuki was shocked.

"We have his body, and we are about five minutes away from Iwa, when we get there we will have a proper burial. After that you will have to come back with us," said Sasori.

The group finished their trip to Iwa and told the people they needed to arrange a funeral. When the day came, most, if not all, of Iwa was there because Karuki's father was a highly respected jounin and probably was next in line for Tsuchikage. After the funeral, Kisano left with Dojisu for a little bit and then came back to the group to return home.

xXx

Everybody was quiet as they walked back into the base, the events that occurred constantly replaying in their heads. Karuki was taking it the worst though. Her chakra would fluctuate every now and then when she was thinking and Kisano and the others were starting to get worried for her. Itachi and Sasori had left to give their report to Pain and explain to him about Karuki's development a little while before. Those who were not there during the mission, meaning Kakuzu, Deidara, Tobi, and Konan, got the basic rundown of what happened, though nothing about Karuki and her chakra was mentioned. Everyone gave their regards to Karuki and even Kisano because the two of them were so close. After that everyone went their separate ways.

(With Pain)

"So, Karuki is the first person in one-hundred and thirty years to awaken the second stage of her Kekkei Genkai called the Ichiban Tate. And if I'm not mistaken, that roughly translates into 'ultimate shield.'" Pain said, his hands folded in front of his face. Sasori and Itachi had just finished explaining what happened during the mission, including what happened in the lab and with Karuki's father.

"Yes, Leader-sama," they said in unison.

"I see. I will think about this and what our next plan of action will be. You may leave." They left.

"It looks like things are getting more complicated now. Though this could be an excellent opportunity for me to take," said Madara, stepping out from the shadowed corner behind Pain's desk. Even though you couldn't see his face, you could tell he was smirking.

xXx

A few weeks passed after the strike team returned and Karuki had mostly settled down; there was the occasional emotional fit, but nothing to worry about. Karuki and Kisano were sitting in the living room of the Akatsuki's base alone, because everyone else was either doing errands or on missions.

"Oh, I forgot to ask you…," Karuki started.

"Ask me what?" Kisano laid her head on Karuki's lap.

"How'd it go with Dojisu?" replied Karuki.

"Oh, we broke up. We both felt like we were just drifting apart, and we didn't see each other enough. Oh, and, uh.. I kinda like Hidan." said Kisano with a smile.

Karuki smirked.

~xXx~

_Did anyone else see that couple coming?_

_Bet you don't know who Karuki's guy is gonna be. Probably not who you think. _

___Ahh.. I guess that was a little foreshadowing wasn't it? Yeah, __Karuki and Kisano _both_ are going to be set up with someone in the Akatsuki. Don't know when it's going to be, but there's time. If you haven't noticed, this is _still_ before the start of Shippuden. But the actual plot line should start within the next coupl__e of chapters. Maybe._


	16. Chapter 16

~xXx~

Pain was sitting in his office waiting for Kisano to arrive, angry thoughts spinning through his head. '_It's been more than an hour since I called for her. I'm a god! Why would she make me wait this long?' _He drummed his fingers on his wooden desk. Several minutes later he heard a few rapid knocks '_Finally', _he thought."Enter."

"Sorry Pain-sama. I was taking a nap in Hidan's room, and nobody thought to look there." Kisano explained. She gave a sad, puppy dog look, which Pain did not fall for.

"Wouldn't Hidan have known to look there?" asked Pain, a hint of anger in his voice.

"Well, uh, we were kinda - sorta, taking a nap together." said Kisano looking down and pushing the tips of her index fingers together.

"Well, that is... Interesting, I suppose," Pain said. "But I have a mission for you."

"Of course sir," said Kisano, ready to impress.

"We need information on Konoha's plans so I can put _my_ plans into action," Pain said, a sinister look on his face. "I need you to go to Konoha and tell them that you are looking for your friend, Karuki. She was there before coming and joining us and they were quick to form a bond with her. You simply have to tell them you heard she had to go there for undisclosed reasons, and gain their trust. Then find a way to get their plans and report back to me."

"Of course, sir. When do I leave?" asked Kisano

"As soon as possible. Oh and please use common sense. Don't wear your cloak."

"Yes sir, I won't sir." said Kisano, bowing.

After a few more brief words were exchanged before Kisano walked out the door to go pack.

(Later)

Kisano, Karuki, and Hidan were all standing by the door to the base.

"Bye Sweetie, I love you" said Kisano to Karuki throwing a hug on her.

"Love you too" said Karuki, returning the hug.

"And goodbye Hidan don't miss me too much." said Kisano throwing a hug on him too.

"As if." he said, returning the hug with two arms.

"HEY! Why don't I ever get two armed hugs you bastard!?" demanded Karuki

"Because you aren't nearly as pretty as Kisano." said Hidan calmly letting go of Kisano.

"Play nice you two! I'll be back as soon as I can," Kisano said as she walked out the door of the base.

"So, what was that all about?" asked Karuki

"What?" Hidan asked.

"You know, calling her pretty, giving two armed hugs and, most astonishingly of all, you didn't cuss once!" replied Karuki poking him in the chest.

"Kisano doesn't like it when I cuss so I don't around her," replied Hidan

"So you stopped your most prominent feature because she doesn't like it? Uh huh you like her," said Karuki with a smile.

"Bitch! I will cut you," retorted Hidan red in the face, and it wasn't from anger.

"I fucking dare you!" responded Karuki, and with that the base erupted into one giant chase scene. Oh, the things that happen when the sane people aren't around.

xXx

(The next day)

Kisano was waltzing down the path to Konoha when she came up with an idea that would help her little lie work a bit better. She took Pain's advice and changed into her old shirt and shoes, but she kept the pants. She then ran into the woods and smeared some dirt around her face and on her arms and knees. Then she took out one of her kunai and sliced her left shoulder enough to make it bleed, nicked her arms and cheek a little and cut the hell out of her pants.

"That'll do just fine," she said, and finished her trip to Konoha.

She saw the gates of the village in the distance and started to add a wobble and a limp to her walk. It would've looked like she actually got hurt to anybody else, but she was just that good at acting.

When she arrived at the gates she pretended to collapse. Kotetsu and Izumo, the only two people anyone ever sees watching the gate, ran to her aid.

Karuki let out a slight whimper and stopped moving, making her breathing look shallow and ragged.

"Shit we should get her to the hospital," said Izumo

"Yeah" replied Kotetsu.

Kisano faked being out cold while she was being carried by Izumo to the hospital. When they arrived a certain pink haired bitch was sitting on the front desk reading a magazine.

"Sakura! We need your help!" said Kotetsu urgently.

Sakura look up from her magazine to where Kotetsu and Izumo were standing. She bolted up and ran over to them when she saw the girl in Izumo's arms.

"Who is she? What happened to her?" She asked while rushing them down to an open room.

"I don't know. We were talking at our post at the gate when she came and just collapsed. We rushed her here right away because of her injuries." Kotetsu explained, seeing as Izumo was a little preoccupied at the time.

"Ok, put her in here and I'll check out her injuries. I'll question her when she wakes up. Go inform Tsunade-sama of the situation." Sakura ordered. Izumo put Kisano on the bed and he and Kotetsu rushed out of the hospital to the Hokage's building.

'_Shit, shit, shit.' _Kisano though._ 'This chick is a medical ninja. She'll be able to tell if I'm really out cold or not. Though I'm surprised those two other guys hadn't noticed. Guess it's time to wake up then.'_ "Ugh…" Kisano moaned, pretending she was regaining consciousness. She tried to sit up, but she was lightly pushed back down by Sakura, who saw her struggling.

"You shouldn't be trying to sit up. You just woke up and I still need to take care of your injuries," she stated. Kisano allowed Sakura to heal her wounds, though afterward she was bombarded with questions.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Kisano Utsukushii," Kisano answered.

"What's your ninja rank?"

"Jounin."

"How old are you?"

"Thirteen."

"…Wow…What are you doing here?"

'_There's the question I was looking for!' _Kisano though.

"I'm looking for my friend. She left my village about four months ago without a word to anybody. I've been searching for her since the day after she left, which was when I found she was gone." Kisano explained, her eyes glistening with unshed tears.

"That's such a long time to be away from home. Who was your friend?" Sakura asked concernedly.

'_And she took the bait.'_

"Karuki… Karuki Aisuru."

There was dead silence in the room until Sakura took a sharp intake of breath.

"You… you were friends with Karuki?" she asked.

"You know her!? Where is she? Is she here?" Kisano questioned, acting excited about any kind of news about Karuki.

"I'm… I'm sorry, but she's not here anymore. She came to the village about four months ago; I'm guessing that's when she left your village, but..." Sakura hesitated. "But she was taken by the Akatsuki the day she got here. They wanted her for her power, and they took her. We've been trying to track her down every chance we get, but our teams always come back empty handed… I'm sorry." She finished, looking down at the floor.

"Take me to your Hokage," Kisano demanded.

"What-" Sakura started

"I said take me to her!" Kisano said, a bit more forcefully this time.

"Why?"asked Sakura.

"I need some information." Kisano answered.

~xXx~


	17. Chapter 17

~xXx~

Tsunade sat in her office just filling out paperwork the she was damn sure she didn't HAVE to do. Needless to say, she was not in a good mood. "Why can't something interesting happen? Honestly I'm bored to death. I'm starting to get pissed off at my chair for being a damn chair!"

"TSUNADE-SAMA," yelled Sakura from outside the door.

"…Come in," said Tsunade.

"You have to come with me, now!" said Sakura only popping her head in the door.  
_  
'This could be interesting,'_ thought Tsunade and got out of her chair. The duo walked through the halls of the Hokage building and down the many stairs in front of it. After they were outside they continued on to the hospital where Kisano was and next found themselves in front of her door, which was open.

"So? Is this girl important?" asked Tsunade.

"Hai," replied Sakura.

"Why?"

"Because, she is a friend of Karuki's –"

"And she wants to know what happened to her," said Shikamaru stepping out from a showed corner.

"Well, have you told her?" asked the Hokage.

"I only told her the basics of what happened and who did it, but I don't think she understood who exactly they were," Sakura said.

"Well then explain what happened to her in full," Tsunade said.

"Well Kisano," Shikamaru said turning towards her "As far as my father and I can figure, she was taken from me… uh… the village… by the Akatsuki, a criminal organization of S-ranked missing-nin, and is the most wanted organization in the entire shinobi world. Their main goal, as far as we know, is to try and get our friend, Naruto, because he has a tailed beast sealed in him. We believe Karuki was taken because of her Kekkei Genkai, the Seishou Tejina; I'm sure you know what that is. That's why she left your village.

"She was attacked on her was here by a man named Orochimaru (pedo-snake). He was interested in her Kekkei Genkai as well and we think the battle is what gave away where she was going. My team and I were the ones to find her, but when we did, she was out-cold on the ground near her cart. When she woke up though… she kicked me in the stomach." Kisano snickered.

"After we got to the village, Tsunade-sama gave her one of our headbands and I gave her a tour around the village. That night, she was kidnapped," finished Shikamaru.

"So the pedo-snake attacked Karuki and her parents on the way here, and the Akatsuki kidnapped her the night she got here. Did I get that right?" Kisano asked.

"Yes. I wish I could tell you more how sorry I am for losing her," said Shikamaru, bowing.

Tsunade thought to herself that this is the most respectful he has been to anyone other than his father. But the only thing that bothered her was that Kisano had mentioned Karuki's parents when Shikamaru had not. She guessed that Kisano would notice if Karuki's parents left the village, too, but it was never said that they were with Karuki when she fought Orochimaru. That troubled her.

"Don't blame yourself, Shikamaru," said Kisano with a smile. "I'm sure you'll find her. But Tsunade-sama I was wondering if you could tell me if you had any leads on the Akatsuki?"

"Well, we do believe them to be somewhere in the desert near the sand village, and that most of them are currently away from the base due to sightings by villagers."

_'Man they are way off, we are nowhere near the desert, and I'm the only one not home,'_ Kisano thought to herself.

"Thank you so much, Tsunade-sama, for the hospitality and all but I simply must be going," said Kisano getting out of the bed stumbling slightly for dramatic effect. And with that Kisano left. But she did not leave the village yet. She walked to Karuki's temporary apartment and jumped through the window, which was 'unlocked.' She looked for paper and something to write with and proceeded to write a little note to Tsunade. On Pain's orders, of course.

xXx Flashback xXx

_ "We need information on Konoha's plans so I can put my plans into action," Pain said, a sinister look on his face. "I need you to go to Konoha and tell them that you are looking for your friend, Karuki. She was there before coming and joining us and they were quick to form a bond with her. You simply have to tell them you heard she had to go there for undisclosed reasons, and gain their trust. Then find a way to get their plans and report back to me."_

"Of course, sir. When do I leave?" asked Kisano

"As soon as possible. Oh and please use common sense. Don't wear your cloak."

"Yes sir, I won't sir." said Kisano, bowing.

"Oh, and one more thing," Pain said, stopping Kisano.

"Yes sir?"

Pain smirked. "I want you to tell Konoha where yours and Karuki's loyalties lie. Let them know that you are an Akatsuki member and that Karuki gladly joined us from the beginning. It's time they knew."

Now it was Kisano's turn to smirk. "You got it, boss," she said bowing, and then left Pain's office.

xXx End Flashback xXx

Kisano sat down at the desk and thought about what exactly she was going to put in the note. It had to be simple, but still enough to explain everything. Pain told her to tell Konoha where hers and Karuki's loyalties lie and to tell them that they are Akatsuki. That would be a little difficult, but she managed to make a basic lay-out in her mind of what she wanted to say.

She started.

…

…

After a good half-hour, she put down her writing utensil and looked over her work.

"That should do it," Kisano said to herself and put the note on the desk. Before she left the apartment, she masked her chakra so it seemed it was nearly gone, and teleported herself into Tsunade's office. She knew it was safe because she could still sense Tsunade's chakra at the hospital. She looked around her desk and in the drawers until she had a decent pile of information. She looked at each file and took in every ounce of information she could get. Tsunade got an apprentice and taught her everything she knew, they still have no leads on Sasuke or the pedo-snake, they have formed an alliance with the sand since the new Kazekage took office, and the Kyuubi Jinchuriki is expected back in the village within the next week.

She put everything back exactly where she found it and teleported just outside Konoha's gates. She then started her journey back to the place she calls home.

xXx

Later that night, if anyone was paying attention, they would notice Shikamaru walking towards the apartment district to visit Karuki's old temporary apartment. He had been doing this ever since Karuki left to see if there was any evidence of where she could gone, but the outcome was always the same; nothing. He did it anyway, though. He always had a bit of hope left.

As soon as he walked in the door, he noticed the door to Karuki's room opened a little. He knew for a fact that it was always closed when he left every night, so he decided to investigate. He walked into the room and his eyes immediately went to the desk where a note sat. He walked over to it and started to read…

"_You really shouldn't be that trusting of strangers in the village. You never know who they might be. Maybe a friend, or an ally, sure. But they could also be an enemy. Let's say… an Akatsuki member? Seriously though, what are the odds of that happening? One in a million? Well, let's just say, hypothetically of course, that I was that one. You would have healed an enemy and let a possible prisoner go, without having a clue as to who they really were. It's sad really. You are too quick to form bonds with others. That could be a weakness in the future. You'll only end up hurting yourselves in the long-run. _

_But back to the real reason for this note; just a little info on what really happened that night. You were right to think that Karuki was taken for her Kekkei Genkai, but wrong on so many other things. I know the whole story, obviously, but I wanted to know how much you knew. After the battle ended with the Akatsuki member, and Karuki was taken, she talked with Leader-sama and after their little chat, she joined them willingly. They didn't force her; same for me, actually. I went with them willingly after Karuki had joined and now we are happily partners in the Akatsuki. Looks like you didn't know us at all._

_So Shikamaru, could you please take this to Tsunade now? I really would appreciate it. And if you're wondering how I know it was you reading it the very first time, let's just say that the eyes are the gateway to the soul. The second you looked into my eyes, I saw how much you cared for Karuki, and how you longed to have her back. I suppose that is why you felt responsible for her kidnapping? And also, when you first started explaining everything, you said "taken from me" but then switched it to "taken from the village." Pretty obvious, but still._

_So yeah, let Tsunade read this when you're done staring at it in shock._

_P.S. I'll tell Karuki you said hi, Shika."_

_*WITH LOTS OF LOVE*_

_~ Kisano Utsukushii ~ XD _

Shikamaru was indeed in shock. Numerous thoughts were running through his head. Questions, answers, and still more questions. Once he snapped out of his daze, he ran all the way to the Hokage tower and burst though Tsunade's door.

"TSUNADE-SAMA!" he yelled, rushing to her desk and slamming the note onto it. "You have to read this! It's important!"

Tsunade looked up and saw how serious Shikamaru's face was. She looked down at the paper and began to read. As she got further down the page, her eyes widened further.

"We've been fooled," was all she said.

xXx

Kisano, after walking the entire day, eventually got lazy and tired and simply teleported the rest of the way to the base. As soon as she got inside, she was tackled by a red-headed blur. "HONEY! I MISSED YOU! WHAT OOK YOU SO LONG!?" Karuki screamed, hanging onto Kisano like she was her lifeline. "AWWWW! I MISSED YOU TOO MOMMY!" Kisano screamed back, hugging Karuki just as firmly.

"**Kisano,** Pain-sama wants you to report your mission, **now,**" Zetsu said, then morphed back into the ceiling.

"I'll be back, momma," Kisano said, letting go of Karuki. "And before I forget… Shikamaru says Hi."

Shocked face… Pause… "Good to know."

Kisano walked to Pain's office. She was about to knock when it was opened by Konan, who beckoned her in with a smile. "Thank you Konan-chan." Konan nodded.

"Report," said an authoritative voice from behind the desk.

"The mission was a success. I got the information you asked for and I told them who we were in a note I left somewhere I know they will find it," Kisano said, going all serious.

Pain nodded. "And the information?"

"From what I read, Tsunade got an apprentice and taught her everything she knew, they still have no leads on Sasuke or the pedo-snake, they have formed an alliance with the sand since the new Kazekage took office, and the Kyuubi Jinchuriki, along with Jiraiya, is expected back in the village within the next week," Kisano said, not leaving anything out.

"Very good. You may rest now," said Pain, dismissing her.

~xXx~


	18. Chapter 18

~xXx~

It was a week later that Karuki could be seen face planting on the kitchen table in the Akatsuki hideout grumbling about life.

'_Fuck life. Fuck nature. Fuck being a girl,' _she thought, a sour expression on her face.

"Karuki-chan doesn't look happy to Tobi~!" (Guess who) Tobi said, walking into the room with a bowl of strawberries in his hand. He sat across from Karuki and proceeded to pick up a strawberry. Karuki's eyes followed the piece of fruit as Tobi raised it closer to his mask. Needless to say, Tobi noticed. He moved it to the left. Karuki followed,_ 'left'_.

He moved it to the right.

'_Right'_

Up.

'_Up'_

Down.

'_Down'_

"Does Karuki-chan want a strawberry?" Tobi asked. "Because Tobi thinks Karuki-chan does~."

Karuki tore her eyes away from the delectable berry and looked up to Tobi's mask. "Yes, I do. But I don't feel like moving to get one."

"Well Tobi will just have to feed Karuki-chan then," he said, pointing a thumb at his chest.

"That's extremely creepy but I will love you forever if you do," Karuki replied. Tobi grabbed another strawberry, the other one having 'disappeared', and held it close to Karuki's open mouth. She bit into it and her eyes lit up. Swallowing, she took the rest of the strawberry in her mouth and pulled it away from Tobi's gloved fingers. Once she finished, Deidara walked in.

"Karuki, un. Pain wants to see you, me, Danna, and Kisano in his office, yeah."

"Alright, tell the boss man that I'll be there in a second," said Karuki. Deidara nodded then left. "Fuuuucccckkkkkkkkk. I don't wanna go," Karuki said into the table, her face becoming reacquainted with it again. "Tobi thinks Karuki-chan should go before Karuki-chan gets in trouble with Leader-sama," Tobi said.

"Ugh."

(With Pain)

"Sasori, Deidara, Karuki, Kisano… We are starting to put our plans into action so you four are going to Sunagakure to find and capture the Ichibi Jinchuriki, the Kazekage of the Sand. You are to leave immediately after you finish gathering your supplies," Pain said.

"Hai," they all said simultaneously.

"Karuki, Kisano, stay a second. Sasori, Deidara, you are dismissed," he continued. Karuki and Kisano stayed while Sasori and Deidara walked out. Pain started, "Now that everybody knows you are Akatsuki, I am allowing you two to wear your cloaks on missions. And," he paused to get something in his desk drawer, "since there are eleven people in the Akatsuki now (this doesn't include Tobi), but there are only suppose to be ten, I've made special rings for you two. I've separated the kanji on them so both of you will only have one half of the word. When you put the rings together, they make the symbol for sisters, which I found very fitting for the two of you. So I want you to wear them everywhere you go, since they also serve the purpose of communicating with me," he explained, handing the girls their rings.

Karuki and Kisano slipped the rings on their left pinky and looked at each other, "Yes sir mister boss."

"Alright, you are dismissed. Go and pack your bags for the mission."

(Later that day)

"Why does Sunagakure have to be in the middle of the desert and shit?" asked Karuki, sitting on the back of one of Deidara's clay birds.

"Because fuck you, that's why, other brat," Sasori said from inside Hiruko.

"In your dreams puppet boy," retorted Karuki.

"Well, thank god I don't dream," said Sasori with a victorious smile, though you couldn't see it. Karuki opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out.

"Sasori 1, Karuki 0" Sasori said.

"Shut up! Or I will shove my hand up your ass and work you like the puppet you are!" yelled Karuki.

"Is that because you wanna see my ass?" asked Sasori.

"Shut the hell up puppet!" said Karuki crossing her arms and looking away.

"Sasori 2 Karuki 0" said Sasori.

"Karuki you really need to calm down," Kisano said, looking over to her best friend.

"Seriously. You two are more annoying than Tobi, yeah," Deidara added.

"Shut up blondie! I'm just pissy today," Karuki yelled at him.

"Why, hmm?" Deidara asked .

"Mother. Fucking. Nature," said Karuki.

"What do you mean, un?"

"BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Karuki started laughing her ass off and Kisano giggled. Sasori, being the badass motherfucker he is, just snickered.

"WHAT, UN?!" demanded Deidara, turning around to glare at the three of them.

"I'll tell you when you're older Dei," Karuki said, calming down a little.

"I'M OLDER THAN YOU, YEAH!" yelled Deidara, his voice cracking at the end, which didn't help.

"Quiet, brat. Sunagakure is right over that sand dune. Land now," said Sasori tired of hearing Deidara's whiny voice.

"Yes, Danna, un." Deidara said, making a quick descend.

xXx

"I see. So we have to deal with this one, then go after the guy we sent to Orochimaru, huh? It seems he's turned traitor and leaked information about us, hmm," Deidara said.

"It can't be helped. Even I don't know what happens after the jutsu is cast –" he was cut off.

"You're a dumbass. Really. Not even knowing what happens with your own jutsu? Pathetic," Karuki commented.

"More importantly," Sasori continued, "will just the bag be enough Deidara? Our opponent is a jinchuriki."

"Score one for Karuki."

"All of my jutsu are works of art, yeah. And I made sure to bring my specialty. After all, our opponent is the Ichibi, un," Deidara replied.

Once the four of them were over the dune, they could conveniently be seen by the ANBU guards on the walls of Suna. When they got closer, only one person stood there blocking the way to the village. "Good work, Yura. Do you remember me?" Sasori asked.

"Yes, Sasori-sama," Yura answered.

Deidara threw his two cents in, "Of course he does. It wouldn't be much of a jutsu if he didn't, un."

Sasori continued, "They become loyal subordinates after regaining their memory."

Yura motioned them through the passage and they followed.

Karuki smirked, "This place is exceptionally bloody… I like it."

"You're messed up on so many levels it's not even funny," Sasori deadpanned.

"It wasn't meant to be funny. I was being dead serious. But I suppose you can't tell being the emotionless prick you are," Karuki argued back.

He stayed silent.

"Score two for Karuki. It's all tied up now."

Kisano giggled again.

By the time their little banter was over, they had made it through the passage and were standing inside The Village Hidden in the Sand.

"I don't feel like fighting today, brat. You go get the sand child." said Sasori

"Alright, Danna, un" Deidara said, making another bird so he could scout from above. After he flew away Karuki looked over at the puppet master, "He really is your bitch, huh?"

"Pretty much," replied Sasori.

(This is where you imagine the fight between Gaara and Deidara because I don't feel like writing it out.)

The trio waited for Deidara to return, mostly in silence but with the occasional blurb from one of the three. Once Deidara returned with Gaara on the tail of his bird, well, Karuki flipped out.

"What in the hell happened to you?!" She screamed at him. "Wait, I don't even care. Just get on the bird so I can fix this monstrosity you call an arm." Deidara did as he was told. Karuki jumped up on it too and they set out, Sasori and Kisano walking beside the bird.

"You're such a dumbass, you know that? Take off your cloak," Karuki asked, then ordered.

"It wasn't my fault, yeah. The jinchuriki was strong, un," Deidara tried to explain, taking off the cloak.

Karuki ignored him and proceeded to encase the remainder of his arm in gold chakra. "I'm going to re-grow your arm from where it is now. It's going to take a while so you're going to have to sit still."

"Ok, un."

xXx

"So, this is the place, huh?" asked Karuki, looking up to the big rock in front of her.

"We have more than one place where we can seal the bijuu, but this one was the closest, un," replied Deidara, opening the mouth of the cave. Karuki had fixed his arm before they got there while Sasori was fighting Kankuro.

"How fun." Karuki replied entering the cave. The apparition of Pain was standing there.

"You're late. Prepare yourselves, now." ordered Pain

"The jinchuriki was stronger than I thought," Deidara explained. The rock door behind them closed and Deidara's bird put Gaara down and poofed away. Pain disregarded his explanation and proceeded to summon the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.

_Tiger - Snake - Rat - Ox - Dog - Ram._

He slammed his hand down and a giant statue rose up from the ground behind him. He made another hand sign, one of which the four did not know, "Assemble."

Six other figures appeared on their respective fingers of the statue. Sasori and Deidara jumped up to their fingers as well but Karuki and Kisano stayed still.

"Do you two know the hand sign that is used?" Pain asked them.

"Yeah, we do," Karuki answered him.

"Good, but there are 11 of us, so you and Kisano will have to share the pinky finger, which means you will also have to share the hand sign, both of you supporting 50% of it with one hand each," explained Pain.

"Shouldn't be a problem, sir," Kisano said walking over to Karuki.

"We're use to working together," Karuki finished. They both jumped up onto the pinky finger and waited.

"This is going to take three days and three nights. Stay aware of your physical selves. And Zetsu, I want you to keep watch on the area outside. Use your longest range," Pain said.

"I know," Zetsu said.

"Three days? Shouldn't it be a shorter time period since we have Karuki and Kisano now?" Kisame asked.

"Aww Kisame, you're such a sweetheart~!" Karuki said.

Pain looked at him. "If that's the case then we should be considered lucky."

Deidara smirked. "That sounds good."

Everyone put their hands into the _ram_ seal. Karuki and Kisano shared the seal like they were told; Karuki using her right hand and Kisano her left. The fingernails of the Demonic Statue started to glow, a kanji for the member's respective rings showing up on them.

Pain- _Zero_

Deidara- _Blue_

Konan- _White_

Itachi- _Crimson_

Zetsu- _Boar_

Kisame- _South_

Kakuzu- _North_

Hidan- _Three_

Sasori- _Orb_

Karuki and Kisano- _Sisters_

Once the nails all had the kanji on them the mouth of the statue started to glow blue.

"Sealing Jutsu: Nine Phantom Dragons," Pain said. Like its name, nine dragons made from what appeared to be chakra came out of the mouth and 'swallowed' Gaara, who was lying on the ground just in front of the statue. When that was done, the sealing began.

~xXx~

_Ok, I'm giving you guys a fair warning. I'm starting school again tomorrow (or as I like to say; going back to hell) so I don't know what my updating schedule is going to be after this chapter. But what I do know is that it's definitely not going to be once a day any more. So yeah, sorry about that; I'd rather it not be this way, but.. ya know… school _

_So, Ja Ne?_


	19. Chapter 19

_Holy Crap! It's a chapter!_

_I have my (kind of random) updating schedule down at the bottom for anyone who's interested in knowing when I'm going to be updating. So read on, I suppose._

~xXx~

_(The third day)_

"**An enemy is approaching,**" Black Zetsu said, alerting everyone to the presence that was coming closer to the hideout. "_And a highly skilled one at that. His is Might Gai,_" White Zetsu added.

Kisame looked at him, "Ah… That freak beast, huh."

"That guy's weird as fuck," Karuki said, looking over to the both of them. Kisame snickered.

"Who's that?" Pain asked.

Itachi looked over to Zetsu, giving him a look that said he would explain. He looked to Pain, "A leaf jounin who uses taijutsu. Don't underestimate him."

"I see. We will use _that_ jutsu then," Pain told them.

"In that case, I wanna fucking go. I was getting pretty damn irritated from not finding our jinchuriki," said Hidan.

"No, I'll go… I have something of a personal quarrel with him anyways," Kisame stated.

Pain nodded, "You're right. That jutsu is more suited to someone like you. Among the Akatsuki, you have more chakra than most of us."

"Hai."

"Even so, I'll take thirty percent of your chakra," He concluded.

"**Another guest**_._"

Pain glared at Deidara, "It's a little noisy out there, isn't it, Deidara?"

Deidara looked down a little, "Well, the jinchuriki was stronger than the other two, un."

Sasori sighed, "I told you at the beginning, didn't I? Your jutsu wasn't suited for covert operations."

"I'd say your traps were pretty loud too, weren't they?" Deidara argued back.

"What'd you say, brat!?"

"Stop fighting amongst yourselves! Concentrate on the jutsu," Pain ordered. They fell silent.

"Now then… who should I send this time?"

"Fucking let me go!" Hidan shouted.

"**Another leaf shinobi**," Zetsu informed them. Itachi turned his head to look at him.

"Damn it," Hidan seethed.

"You're mad as shit," Karuki laughed.

"In that case, it's decided…"

A few minutes passed. Karuki could almost imagine what was going on with Itachi and Kisame.

It was something she wished she could see because standing doing nothing except focusing your chakra is pretty fucking boring.

A few _more _minutes passed and Kisame and Itachi opened their eyes. "The jutsu wore off, huh. However we were able to buy quite a bit of time… this should be enough. Well done, Itachi, Kisame," Pain said.

"That's easy to say. The two who became sacrifices and gave their bodies for your jutsu were both my subordinates," Sasori complained.

Karuki scoffed, "Oh cry me a river, build a bridge, and get the fuck over it."

"Anyway… Zetsu, dispose of the two used for the jutsu," said Pain. "Itachi, tell me about the enemy's numbers and features."

Itachi nodded, "They're a four man squad with Hatake Kakashi, Haruno Sakura, the Kyuubi jinchuriki, Uzumaki Naruto, and Chiyo, the Sand's advisor."

'_Did he say Granny Chiyo…?'_ Sasori thought.

"Understood. We'll now be entering the final stage now," explained Pain.

"What will we do about the pests?" Kisame asked.

"**They're moving at a greater speed than anticipated**."

"No problem. We stalled them effectively. Just ignore them," Pain said.

Kisame sighed, "Man, they sure are a pain, aren't they?"

"And we're having a fucking hard time finding our jinchuriki," Hidan complained.

Pain was highly annoyed by now, "Enough with the idle chit-chat! Concentrate! Mistakes will

not be tolerated from here on. The sealing's about done but not _yet_."

Everything was quiet until the end. They didn't dare speak again for fear of Pain's wrath. He can be scary as fuck when he's angry and no one wanted to see that.

…

_(A little later)_

"It's finished," Pain finally broke the silence.

"Good lord that was so tiring," complained Karuki, stretching her arms above her head.

"What? You mean how you couldn't move?" replied Kisano.

"Yeah! I stood for three fucking days! I'm too lazy to do that! It's not natural! And I'm fucking hungry!" snapped Karuki.

"Whoa, aren't we feisty, brat?" chimed Sasori.

"Oh shut the hell up, you were all nice and curled up inside your puppet!" replied Karuki.

"And it was damn comfortable too," replied Sasori, who was smirking inside his Hiruko.

"Bastard," said Karuki.

The Phantom Dragon Jutsu ended and Gaara slowly started to fall. Kisano dropped her hands and quickly jumped down to grab him before he hit the ground. Once she had him firmly in her grasp she landed with a soft thud on the ground and gently put him down. Everyone was looking at her because of what she just did.

"Being with Karuki, you learn to respect the dead," she explained soberly jumping back up so she stood beside her friend again.

xXx

_(Outside)_

"What does it look like, Neji?" Gai asked his student who was currently using the Byakugan to see inside the base. Neji's eyes widened when he saw the huge sealing statue.

"It looks like there's a large cavern inside with a giant statue in the middle of it," he said. His eyes narrowed when he saw two people who looked very familiar standing next to each other on the statue. "But… I think…" Neji paused.

"You think what?" Sakura asked, pushing Naruto aside and standing by Neji.

He hesitated for a moment but continued, "I think… Karuki and Kisano are there too," He looked down, deactivating his Byakugan.

Sakura gasped and Kakashi just looked down a little. They had both been told by Tsunade to expect the worst, but they never expected this. Both girls that they knew, that they accepted into their village… that they trusted, just stabbing them in the back.

_(Back inside)_

Everyone had disappeared except those who got Gaara. Itachi and Sasori shared some words before Itachi fizzled out. The four of them got down and the statue poofed out of existence. Deidara sat on Gaara while Sasori, Karuki and Kisano stood next to him.

At some point, Sasori and Deidara had started another one of their art arguments. Kisano listened, laughing on the inside, and Karuki stood there getting more annoyed by the second. A couple of minutes later, the rock acting as a door was smashed into oblivion by a certain pink haired bitch.

"Hi Kakashi. Hi Sakura. Hi other people we don't know," said Karuki and Kisano perfectly timed.

"Karuki... Kisano?" said Sakura rubbing her eyes.

"In the flesh!" said Kisano.

"And Akatsuki cloaks," said Karuki.

"And shoes too," Kisano added.

Karuki nodded her head, "Ah, yes. The shoes are very comfortable."

"I know" said Sakura, glaring.

"Eternal beauty? You've got to be kidding, yeah," Deidara scoffed, ignoring the people who just broke down their door. "Look Danna, as a fellow artist I respect your opinion, but true art is fleeting. Flashes of beauty burning brightly and then vanishing, never to be seen again, un."

Sasori shook his head. "Nonsense! Art is eternal beauty. You're just too naive to understand that."

Karuki sighed and looked at the others, "I'm sorry you have to hear this."

"But," Sakura stated, "Why are they arguing?"

Karuki shook her head. "I'd be best of you don't know. These two are a pain in the ass when they get like this."

"You love it," Kisano smiled, nudging Karuki with her shoulder.

"Don't be absurd, Danna un," Deidara sighed. "True art can only be seen in that one second before it's gone forever, yeah."

Kisano saw Naruto launch a giant shuriken at them, but Sasori deflected it lazily with his tail.

"Are you trying to make me angry, brat?" Sasori snarled, still focused on Deidara. "Why don't you explain it to me again?"

Deidara chuckled. "Art is one thing and one thing only, un," He was quiet for a moment as he formed some clay in his hand. He tossed the newly formed clay bird on the ground a little away from him. "The explosion itself, un!"

He made a hand sign and the bird came to life.

"Alright, Sasori, Deidara, chill," Karuki ordered. "You had your argument and you can continue it later, but right now, there are people standing right in front of you who want to kill you. Focus."

Sasori glanced at her, "Right."

"WHAT'S THAT BLONDE GUY DOING?!" screamed Naruto, seeing Deidara sitting on Gaara.

"Dei, he's right. That's just not nice. I mean, he was kinda cute," said Karuki.

"Don't be so disrespectful or I will kill you," Naruto said, pointing at Karuki.

"HAHAHA! Try it Kit!" laughed Karuki.

"Heh heh Kit," Sasori laughed, "I see what you did there."

"Mhmm, I think we'll keep it," Karuki said nodding her head.

"I'LL KILL YOU," screamed Naruto jumping in the air swinging at Karuki, who easily grabbed his fist and threw him into the wall.

"Calm down Kit," said Karuki.

Deidara got up off of Gaara so the bird he summoned could pick Gaara up. Deidara then leapt on the back of the bird. "Later, un," he said, flying out of the cavern.

"Naruto, come with me!" Kakashi said, running out the cavern after Deidara.

"Kisano, be a dear and make sure Dei doesn't get hurt. Me and Sasori will take pinky and granny," said Karuki.

"Okay Momma," said Kisano jumping over Sakura and out the opening.

"Karuki, stand back I got em'," said Sasori.

"Alright just don't die. The base wouldn't be as sarcastic without you," said Karuki.

"Will do," Sasori said, engaging the other two.

"Sakura, do not fear," Chiyo said as she stepped forward. "I am here. You step back." She reached into the sleeves of her clothes and withdrew a long line of kunai attached to chakra strings.

She launched them at Sasori but he deflected them with Hiruko's tail. "If you insist on interfering, I guess I have no choice." He ripped the now torn cloak off, revealing Hiruko's puppet body. "How would you and the _brat_ like to be part of my collection, granny?"

"WHAT THE FUCK! I DON'T WANT TO BE PART OF YOUR DAMN COLLECTION!" Karuki screamed at him from across the cavern.

"I wasn't talking about you, other brat," Sasori stated irritably.

"Bastard. You should make that more clear next time."

"What is that thing?" Sakura asked in disbelief.

"What you're looking at is not Sasori's real body, it's merely a puppet," Chiyo stated.

"Then where's his real body?" Sakura asked. "Puppet masters are supposed to be pulling the strings from behind, right?"

"His real body is inside that one," Chiyo stated. "Puppet masters aren't very good at close combat. Controlling their puppet in battle leaves them wide open to attack. In order to overcome this weakness, Sasori created this puppet," Chiyo explained, "It is both his armor and weapon. It's Sasori's specialty, Hiruko. "

"You seem to know a lot about it, Lady Chiyo," Sakura commented.

Chiyo nodded. "I know everything about that puppet."

Sasori twitched the tail, "But do you know how I prepare a new specimen for my collection?"

"No one wants to hear that, puppet bitch," commented Karuki.

"First I drain its blood," Sasori continued anyway. "Then I remove all the organs and wash it to make it nice and clean. Then, after I preserved the body so it doesn't decay, the final step is to fill it with hidden weapons. Then it becomes part of my collection."

Fucking nasty puppet procedure…

"This one though, is only one of the specimens in my collection. Once I've added you and the girl, I'll have collected exactly three hundred. This is _my art_," snarled Sasori.

Chiyo frowned, "You call it art do you?"

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked, looking at Chiyo.

"Long ago, he was an esteemed master craftsman, admired for his countless extraordinary puppets he created," She told her, "But his true passion was for making puppets out of human beings and adding them to his, what he called, collection."

Karuki zoned out for the rest of the conversation. She was still watching but not listening to what they were saying. She narrowed her eyes when she saw Chiyo whispering to Sakura. After they were done talking, they charged. Karuki watched them dodge both of Sasori's attacks without getting a scratch.

Sakura ran straight at Sasori while Chiyo stayed behind. Hiruko's tail went for Sakura's face but it stopped just clean of beheading her. She went around the tail and crushed the shell of Hiruko.

"Ouch," Karuki whistled as Sakura made contact.

He jumped away from the pile of rubble.

"Need help?" asked Karuki.

"No I do not, brat," Sasori said through the cloak that was now covering his body.

"So, you finally decided to come out, eh?" Chiyo asked, looking at Sasori's cloaked figure.

Sakura gasped, "Is that his real body?"

"Come now; let me get a good look at you," Chiyo continued, "I've waited twenty years to see my grandson's face."

Sasori wiggled his fingers and the head of Hiruko shot up and sent senbon flying at Sakura, which were easily blocked.

Sasori finally pulled off the cloak. He smiled, "Do you still think this will be easy, granny?"

"Impossible!" Chiyo said in disbelief.

"What's the matter granny? Are you so full of emotion that you can barely speak?" Sasori asked. "I'm not surprised; it's our first reunion in twenty years."

She blinked. "Sasori, you..."

"While I have you, I'll show you something special," Sasori continued. He allowed a scroll to slide out of the confines of his sleeve and into his hand. "I guarantee it will move you. This piece was particularly difficult to acquire. But on the other hand, that's what makes me so fond of it," He stated, "This one is my favorite."

He unrolled the scroll in his hand and it started to glow purple before a huge poof of smoke surrounded him. The smoke was quick to clear.

"No, it can't be! It's impossible!" She gasped. "The third Kazekage?" Chiyo demanded. "Sasori, it was you?"

"So what if it was?" Sasori wondered, falling into a stance. "I'm not afraid of a retired old woman who has one foot in the grave. You can't even touch me."

"Retired?" She repeated, "Maybe, but I wouldn't think my own grandson would stoop this low. Mixing yourself up with evil people, turning on your village, and meddling with the Kazekage for the third time!"

"Third time?" Sakura asked, looking back.

"It was Orochimaru who killed Gaara's father, the Fourth Kazekage, but… the one who guided them was Sasori!" Chiyo explained.

"That's a lie," Karuki interrupted, glaring at the ground. "Sasori had nothing to do with that snake_ bastard_ killing Gaara's father."

"She's right," Sasori agreed. "The one who guided him was my subordinate. Indeed, I was originally paired up with Orochimaru in the Akatsuki, so I did lots of things."

"So… if you were paired with Orochimaru, you must know a lot about him. That means you have all the answers I'm looking for!" Sakura barked.

"Yes, well. Unfortunately, I have to kill you two now and go and capture that jinchuriki. I hate to keep people so I have no time to answer your questions. Now… let's do this!"

**(I know this is a real shitty part to do this, but I'm going to have to skip to the end of the battle or else this chapter is going to be a good 20 plus pages. And I kinda want to get this over with. Sorry.)**

xXx

Karuki knew from the second Sakura took the blow for Granny Chiyo that Sasori was going to die. But she wouldn't let that happen, whether she was friends with the leaf or not. She would not let Sasori die today, not while she was there.

Karuki saw Sasori jump back. She started running to him.

'_I can't let him die. I won't let him die!'_ Karuki thought to herself. She saw Chiyo twitch her fingers and immediately Sasori's puppet parents got up, swords in hand. They were about to impale Sasori… but Karuki got there first; they hit her instead.

"Holy fuck that hurts," She said, looking down at the swords protruding from her body, a little blood dribbling down her chin.

Sasori looked at Karuki, "You stupid brat, pull those out and heal yourself."

"What? That's the thanks I get for saving your life? Well aren't you just an inconsiderate asshole," she coughed, grabbing the handle and pulling.

"Sakura!" Chiyo exclaimed when Sakura fainted. She crawled over to where she lay, "This is not good."

She started to pull the sword out of Sakura while simultaneously closing the wound.

"It's futile. I pierced a vital point. One that is not easy to heal, even with your medical ninjutsu," Sasori stated.

"I've already finished the first-aid treatment," Chiyo started, "What I'm doing now isn't medical ninjutsu… I'm giving her my own life energy."

"A reanimation jutsu," Karuki stated, now sword free and standing next to Sasori. Her hand was on her wounds and her hand glowed with her chakra.

"With this jutsu, life can even be breathed to puppets, in exchange for the user's life that is…" Chiyo explained.

Sakura twitched and started to get up.

"That's strange. I thought the caster of the Reanimation jutsu or whatever was supposed to die in exchange for breathing life into someone dead," Sasori questioned.

"Sakura's wound was severe, but she wasn't dead… so I got off without serious injury."

"That's unfortunate," said Sasori.

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Sakura punched him in the face, cracking his cheek.

"I'd stop that. This body doesn't feel pain. This battle is over, and you won. Karuki is right, if she hadn't taken that attack for me, I would've died. I'll tell you something, as a reward for defeating me. You want to know about Orochimaru, right?" Sasori asked.

Sakura's head perked up at this.

"At noon, ten days from now, go to the Tenshi Bridge located in the Village Hidden in the Grass. I've got a spy working as one of Orochimaru's subordinates. I was supposed to rendezvous with him there, but given my current condition, I don't think I can."

_(With Kisano and Deidara)_

"Deidara, I don't like how Kakashi's been for the past couple minutes," Kisano voiced, "I think he's planning something."

Deidara nodded, "I wouldn't doubt it if he is, un. He's always been a clever opponent, yeah."

"If only he would open his eyes I can see what he's planning," Kisano muttered to herself. _'If I use _it _there's a good chance Dei's gonna notice.'_

She sighed, "They were going to figure it out sooner or later." She closed her eyes and went through some hand signs.

_Dog – ram – snake_

"Kokoro Dokusha," She said, opening her eyes. They were no longer the emerald green that they usually were but a vibrant purple – darker around the rim of her eye and gradually getting lighter near the pupil. The pupil also had two purple ovals in them – one bigger than the other. The bigger one was at the bottom of Kisano's pupil, while the smaller one was at the top. They too were darker around the rim and lighter in the middle.

"Kisano, un…what…?" Deidara said in shock.

Kisano laughed, "Cool, right? But I'll explain it later. Right now I have to focus on Kakashi."

As soon as she said that, Kakashi opened his eyes revealing his newly formed Mangekyou Sharingan. Kisano gasped at what she saw when she looked into his normal eye – knowing not to look into a Sharingan.

Everything around them started to swirl into a fixed point, which happened to be Deidara and Kisano herself.

"DEIDARA GET OFF THE BIRD!" she yelled, tackling him. Together they fell down into the woods beside the ravine (if that's what you would call it).

They landed roughly on the ground where they could see the bird land a little away. They started running in the opposite direction when they sensed Kakashi had begun running after them.

Kisano quickly made two clones of herself and transformed one of them into Deidara.

"Deidara. Underground. Keep going straight until you sense Karuki and Danna," She said and sank into the ground, Deidara soon following. The clones stayed above and distracted Kakashi while Naruto got Gaara out of the clay bird's mouth.

After a little bit Kisano started to faintly feel Karuki's chakra. She flared her own to signal Deidara that they could come up now and they both popped out of the ground right as Karuki and Sasori jumped in front of them.

"I take it you won, un?" Deidara asked, brushing some dust off of his cloak.

"I guess you could say that," Karuki answered, looking to Kisano, "How 'bout you guys?"

"We're all good."

Sasori nodded, "Now that this is all settled, I suggest we all get back to base and report in."

"Right, but before that, there's something I have to do," Karuki said, then jumped away.

xXx

Karuki searched for the chakra of Chiyo, Sakura, and Kakashi. She found them in a clearing with everybody standing around Gaara.

She heard Naruto start to talk, "Why…? Why is it always Gaara? Why did he have to die like this? He's the Kazekage… He just became Kazekage…"

"Calm down, Uzumaki Naruto," Chiyo said.

"SHUT UP!... This wouldn't have happened if you sand shinobi hadn't put a monster inside him! Did you even ask him at all about how he felt!? Jinchuriki my butt. You have no right to act so self-important by labeling us… with a word _you_ created!" Naruto paused, "I can't save Sasuke… and I can't save Gaara. I trained so hard for three years. But nothing's changed since then."

Karuki saw this as her chance and she flickered into the clearing, "It will be alright, Naruto."

At the sound of her voice, everyone got into a battle stance around Gaara's body.

"Now don't be like that," Karuki paused, "I want to help."

Sakura looked at her, "You're a traitor to the Leaf… Why should we trust you?" She asked.

"Because if I hadn't gone to your village before the Akatsuki and made friends of you guys… I would have killed you and Granny Chiyo back in the cave. I had all my chakra while you barely had any," Karuki explained.

"And," she continued, "I want you to find Sasuke and bring him back… Sakura. What Sasori told you… I have a feeling that Sasuke is going to be at the base that the subordinate is going to be coming from."

"And how would you know that?" Neji asked. "How do we know that you're not working for Orochimaru behind the Akatsuki's back?"

Karuki's expression darkened. "Don't. You. DARE! SAY THAT I AM WORKING FOR THAT SNAKE-_BITCH_!" she shouted, glaring with all her hatred at Neji. "MY FATHER IS DEAD BECAUSE OF HIM! What makes you think that I would even be within ten feet of him without ripping his head off?" she asked, growling out the last sentence.

"Karuki… I thought you said that your parents were just kidnapped by him," Sakura said before Neji could screw anything else up.

A sad expression fell over Karuki's face, "… A little after Kisano joined the Akatsuki to be my partner, and before she went to the leaf, I had asked Leader-sama for a mission to get them back. When we got to the base, my father was dead. Please… I just want to help you guys. I don't want you to lose anybody like I did. Sakura, you know who I am… you know what I can do… let me help."

"… Alright."

"Thank you. But one thing first," She reached into her pack and pulled out a gold pill and tossed it to Sakura. "Eat that and use the extra chakra to heal yourself and Granny Chiyo." Sakura nodded.

Karuki went through some hand signs.

_Monkey – Rabbit – Boar – Ox – Dog – Ram – Boar – Snake – Horse – Rat – Ox – Tiger – Snake – Dragon – Bird_

When she finished the hand signs, her eyes turned gold and the kanji for life appeared on her pupil. "Awai Sensu: Reikon Saigen." Her body was surrounded in wisps of golden chakra. She placed her hand on Gaara's chest and forehead and he began to glow with her chakra. The wisps lifted him up off the ground and began to swirl all around him.

After a bright flash of light he started to lower and landed in Karuki's lap. She gently laid him on the ground and got up, "I have to leave now… He'll be up in a minute," she said.

"Wait! I have to ask you… Why did you save Sasori in our battle?" Sakura called out.

"The Akatsuki are my family. They're the only ones I have now. I would willingly give my life for any of them," With that said, Karuki disappeared. Back to the base… Back to home.

~xXx~

_ I rather like that ending… I got to save two people who, if they died, would have been brought back by the glasses wearing mother fucker… and we can't have that, now can we?_

_So, yeah… extra long chapter for the readers because I want you to feel special._

_And you should be because this took the whole week between homework for all my classes. Holy crap I don't know what I was thinking when I signed up for them. I'm taking one AP class (and it's fucking U.S. History) and four honors classes (Biology, English II, Spanish III, and Geometry)._

_Honestly, I must be bat-shit crazy to do all of this. And I'm only a sophomore -_-;_

_The other two are art and band (and technically lunch) _

_So yeah. I have a VERY full schedule right now and God only knows what it's gonna be like when basketball season starts. So don't be mad at me if I only update like, once a month or something like that, because my excuse is my classes._

_I mean I know I want to get into a good collage, but holy fuck!_

_Sorry I'm kinda ranting right now but I have to say all that or you'll just think I'm lazy (which I am but this time that's not the reason)._

_And I am by no means going to drop this story. I'm going to work on it whenever I can, even if I only get a sentence or two in right before I leave for school, or between assignments, or even before basketball once it starts._

_Again, it's gonna be random but it's still there._

_Thanks for reading this whole thing if you did and thanks for all the reviews and favorites and all that jazz; I really like and appreciate it._

_This chapter is 13 pages long and 4,460 words… Holy Fuck._

…

_Um…. Later. _


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